What Iggy Hears
by InkDrinker
Summary: The first book from Iggy's perspective.
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own Maximum Ride... yet. [scary music] Mwahahahahahaha!_

**Iggy POV**

I awoke to the sound of slight rustling in the kitchen. Then I heard Gazzy's voice, then Max's voice answered. Oh, no. Max was trying to make breakfast again. I sat up quickly in bed, then groaned. I was so _tired!_ Maybe I could just – yawn – go supervise a little.

I staggered out of bed and into the living room, falling onto the worn couch with my eyes still closed. What was the use of opening them, anyway? It wasn't like it would make any difference.

"Hey, Ig, rise and shine," came Max's voice, interrupting my sleepy trance. Now I was irritated.

"Bite me," I said, hoping for defiant, but just managing sleepy.

"Fine. Miss breakfast," she replied, and I heard her open the fridge. Yeah, right. Max wouldn't last five minutes in the kitchen without my help. I wasn't worried.

Just then, I heard Fang tread quietly into the room. He touched my hand, signalling me to be quiet. I smothered a chuckle. This would be good. Fang walked quietly into the kitchen, and I heard him stop right behind Max. A few seconds later I heard a cry from Max and loud shuffling as she turned quickly to see Fang smirking at her.

"Will you _quit _that?" Max's voice sounded strangely high-pitched.

I could practically hear Fang's smirk as he replied, "Quit what? Breathing?" I covered my mouth to smother my laughter.

"You know what," Max replied angrily. I sighed. Seriously, those two were crazy about each other, but were the only ones oblivious to that obvious fact.

All right. I would let Max suffer no longer. I stood up with a grunt. "I'll make eggs," I said, stumbling into the kitchen and grabbing a frying pan.

"Fang? You set the table. I'll go get Nudge and Angel," Max said, and walked out of the kitchen. But Fang just leaned against the counter next to me. I chuckled and got the eggs and bacon out of the fridge.

"You really don't see it?" I asked.

"See what?" he said, confused.

"Oh, nothing..." I said, and chuckled again. Fang grabbed some silverware and walked out of the room.

_So... I don't really know how this is gonna work out. Review please! Tell me if you love it, tell me if you hate it... just REVIEW!_


	2. Chapter 2

A few minutes later, Max walked into the kitchen with Angel, and I heard Nudge trailing sleepily behind them. Fang laid out the plates, Max put eggs and bacon on everyone's plate, and breakfast had begun.

I shoveled scrambled eggs into my mouth. Somehow I knew how to find the last bits of food on my plate without having to move my fork all over the place.

"I want to go pick strawberries today. They're ripe now," Angel said. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, Angel, I'll go with you," said Gazzy. I was about to roll my eyes again when a foul odor reached my poor, innocent nostrils. GROSS!!

"Oh, jeez, Gazzy," Max said.

I clutched my neck and made choking noises. "Gas... mask!" I gasped out, my fork dropping onto my plate. He chose the absolute worst times to – ahem – let one rip. I mean, I was actually _hungry_ before that.

Fang got up from the table. "I'm _done,_" he said, and I heard his plate drop into the sink.

"Sorry," Gazzy said.

_Yeah, you better be sorry._

"Yeah, Angel," Nudge said pointedly. "I think the _fresh air_ would do us all good. I'll go too."

I almost snorted. I wouldn't be caught _dead_ going out to pick _strawberries._ How humil –

"We'll all go," said Max. I groaned.

Angel happily handed me a basket and we left the house. I trailed behind reluctantly, following their footsteps. Maybe I would just sit in the grass and hang. Or I could eat all the strawberries I picked. Or even steal a few from the others... While I was pondering this difficult decision, I heard Angel say, "If you make cake, I can make strawberry shortcakes."

Then a voice said, "Yeah, that'll be the day, when Max makes a cake. I'll make it, Angel." Wait a minute... I knew that voice all too well...

Suddenly Max was shouting at me. "Oh, thank you! Okay, I'm not a fabulous cook. But I can still kick your butt, and don't you forget it!"

I was about to reply that I hadn't said anything about her not-so-fabulous cooking when it dawned on me what had happened. Then I was laughing and holding my hands up to show her it hadn't been me. I heard Nudge trying to stifle her snickering.

"Was that _you?_" Max said to Gazzy, sounding confused. I felt him shrug next to me. Okay, so maybe this trip hadn't been too bad of an idea.

Then I heard an earsplitting scream and heavy footsteps hitting the grass.

Never mind. Terrible idea.


	3. Chapter 3

Next thing I knew, a hairy paw had grabbed my arm and yanked me towards the owner of said paw. I felt a hard blow to my side, but stood my ground and sent a punch of my own that only knocked the Eraser's breath away.

I still wasn't exactly sure what had happened. I heard a chopper above us, and these Erasers had obviously dropped down from it, but... why? Why now of all times?

Around me I could hear sounds that sounded like fighting, but I couldn't figure out who was winning, who had fallen just then. What if Gazzy was only feet away from me, being beaten to a pulp, and I couldn't help?

Just then an Eraser punched me right in the face, and I felt my eye swelling shut. Ow! That sucker would pay for that. I ducked behind the heavy Eraser and kicked the back of his leg, hoping I had aimed for his knee. Turns out I had, and I scrambled out of the way just before the Eraser fell backward, hitting his head hard on the ground. He didn't get back up.

I could hear Nudge begin to cry. Angel screamed bloody murder.

I got back up and tried as hard as I could to get my bearings. Just then I heard a _crack_ and Nudge let out a small cry as she hit the ground. I didn't hear her get back up.

These sickos were winning.

I heard Max shout, and then an Eraser shrieked and crumpled. Just then another Eraser grabbed me from behind and dealt a hard blow to the back of my head. I fell to the ground hard.

Just before I fell into unconsciousness, I heard Angel screaming Max's name, her voice choked with tears.

We were done for.


	4. Chapter 4

_OMG! I totally overlooked that! Thank you to whoever pointed out my mistake in the previous chapter! Oops... lol. Can someone tell me how to change that...? :)_

I was awoken by rough hands shaking my shoulders.

"Iggy! Iggy!" Fang was shouting.

"I'm awake," I said, sitting up and rubbing the back of my head. I had a pretty bad headache. I reached up and felt my lip, which was swollen and bloody, and my black eye, which was throbbing horribly.

Suddenly a pair of skinny arms threw themselves around my neck.

"Iggy! You're okay!" Nudge said. "They threw me at a _tree_, and Gazzy's still out cold, so is Max, and --"

I realized immediately who had been left out of Nudge's status report.

"Where's – Fang, what about Angel?" I asked, scared to know the answer. There was a long silence. Nudge started to cry.

"The Erasers stuffed her in a sack... and ran away with her," Fang replied quietly. My heart sank.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's wake up Gazzy and Max and go!" I said.

Fang went and leaned over the Gasman. Nudge shook him awake.

"Gazzy! Wake up!" Nudge cried. Finally, he woke up. I felt him look around next to me.

"Where's Angel?" he asked immediately.

"The Erasers got her. We have to go after her," I said. He stood up immediately and ran over to Max. I could tell he was trying to be brave, but when he spoke, his voice was quiet and scared.

"Max?" he said.

Fang joined him quickly and shook Max's shoulders.

"Max?" Gazzy repeated.

Nudge stood behind them with me and clutched my arm.

Max moaned awfully.

"I'm okay," she said, sounding totally _not _okay. I heard try to sit up, and Nudge started to move forward, but I held her back.

I could practically hear the gears turning in Max's head. "Where's Angel?" she demanded suddenly. There was a pause, then Fang replied.

"She's gone. They took her."

Hearing it again somehow made it sink in even more. What if we couldn't get her back? What if the whitecoats got her? For good?

Then I heard Max standing up. "We've got to get her," she said. "We've got to get her before they --" Her voice trailed of shakily. I didn't really want to know how she would have finished that sentence. I didn't want to think about what They would do to Angel.

My thoughts were interrupted by Max talking again. "Check in guys – are you up for a chase?"

Nudge's voice was tear-choked. "Yes," she said bravely.

I didn't feel up for a chase – to be honest, I felt like crap, but I had to be brave. For Angel.

"I'm up," I said, my split lip making it hard to speak. I felt the Gasman nod next to me.

Then, in the distance, I heard it. I cocked my head, signalling the others to be quiet. I was able to pinpoint which direction the sound was coming from.

"_There!_" I said, pointing towards the sound. I led the way as we ran in the direction I had pointed. The echoes told me we had reached a cliff, and I stopped abruptly. I could hear a car bumping over the road below us. No doubt that was the Erasers. No one besides us ever came up here. So that meant...

Angel was inside.

"Let's get her!" Max shouted, and she backed up about ten feet. I moved out of her way so she could leap off the cliff.

And so we flew.

_See the green button down there? Thats a... cookie dispenser. Yeah... let's go with that. Don't you want a cookie? Click the green button!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Wow! Thank you so so soooo much for all the awesome reviews! Reviews make Inky happy! :)_

The feeling that you get from flying cannot be matched. I felt powerful, like I could do anything. Despite all that had just happened.

I was used to flying around here, so I knew where there were trees and stuff in my way. But I had to concentrate on being able to tell when Nudge banked or dropped a few feet. After years of flying with the flock, I could identify them by the different ways they flapped. So when someone dropped out of the formation behind me, I knew it was Fang.

I heard him pull a branch out of a tree and drop. Suddenly I heard a loud smashing sound and yells from the dog boys inside. Then I heard the windows roll down. Uh-oh. A gun began to fire and I swerved neatly into the trees behind Nudge. I heard Fang fly back up to us.

"Angel!" Max bellowed. "We're here! We're coming for you!"

"Up ahead," said Fang. I realized that the chopper I had heard before must be ahead of us, waiting for the Erasers to load Angel in. Then they would take off. Which meant we had to get Angel before then.

Just then, the vehicle below braked, and a door opened. I heard an Eraser jump out, and Fang dropped down on him. Then Fang yelled in pain, and he flew back up to us. I heard the Eraser jump into the chopper.

Then another Eraser leaped out, and I heard something flying through the air. Nudge shouted and grabbed my hand, pulling me back. Then something exploded, right where I had just been. Nudge cried out in pain. A shrapnel of white-hot metal had hit her cheek.

I could hear the chopper's rotor picking up speed. Max flew out of the trees toward the chopper. Another Eraser jumped out of the car, and I heard a heavy object hitting the floor of the chopper. _Angel._ I was beginning to panic. Max couldn't just jump into the Erasers' chopper. The last Eraser jumped into the chopper and it took off.

Max roared and I could hear the Erasers laughing at her. Then I couldn't tell what anyone was saying. I heard a voice talking to Max. But – that voice – it rang a bell. I couldn't tell who it was, but the voice brought up memories I had buried deep down, hoping I would never have to dig them back up.

Just then, I heard Max hit the ground, and the rest of us landed after her.

Max didn't have anyone else with her.

The Erasers had Angel. And they were taking her to a place that I had hoped never to have to even think about again.


	6. Chapter 6

I stared into the distance, seeing absolutely nothing, of course. I could feel Nudge shaking with sobs next to me. I could think of nothing but Angel. The sound of her voice. The sound of her small feet padding down the hallway.

And the fact that, when she had suggested going to pick strawberries, I had rolled my eyes. I wished more than anything right now that I could take that back. But I couldn't. And now that would weigh me down with guilt until we got her back. If we got her back.

"_They have my sister!_" the Gasman cried, and he threw himself down onto the ground. I could hear him pounding the ground with hands balled into fists. Fang knelt next to him.

"Max, what are we gonna do? They have _Angel,_" Nudge said.

Suddenly Max leaped into the air and flew away. I knew it must have been tough for her. We all looked up to Max, because she was our leader. But we all knew Angel had meant the world to her. She meant the world to all of us. Without Angel, we weren't the flock. We were just a pack of mutant kids without any parents and lacking in manners. We needed to get her back. But how?

The Gasman was sobbing now. Fang had moved away to hold Nudge, and I knelt next to Gazzy and touched his shoulder, but he pushed me away. I sat back. Suddenly, the Gasman sat up and started sobbing into my shoulder. I put my arm around him, and he leaned against me.

We sat like that for a while. We didn't know what else to do.

_ReViEw PlEaSe! :)_


	7. Chapter 7

When we finally flew home, I walked in and stood by the counter. I couldn't sit down at the table... my spot at the table was right next to Angel's. Suddenly the emotion was too much for me. I let out a howl and swept my hand across the counter. I didn't care if I broke anything. I wanted the pain, the sadness, to go away. I felt my hand hit a mug and it flew across the room. It hit Fang in the head.

"Watch it, idiot!" he yelled, which stung. I wasn't an idiot. If anyone, he was the idiot, for not getting Angel. I couldn't even see, for crying out loud.

I heard Max leave the room, then come back in.

"_You _watch it!" I yelled, frustrated. "What _happened? _I mean, you guys can _see,_ can't you? Why couldn't you get Angel?"

"They had a chopper! And guns! We're not _bulletproof!_" the Gasman yelled.

Okay, he had a point.

"Guys, guys," Max interrupted. "We're all upset. But _we're _not the enemy. _They're _the enemy."

She was right. We would get nowhere from fighting each other. It wasn't our fault Angel got kidnapped.

Max began pacing. "Just – be quiet for a minute so I can think."

My legs were aching, so I went to sit on the couch. Then I realized there was already something on the couch. The object, which I now realized was Nudge, moved to one side so I could sit down. I sat down, and she leaned her head on my shoulder. I stroked her hair comfortingly.

"Take deep breaths," I heard the Gasman tell Max.

Nudge took her head off of my shoulder and took a deep breath. "You know, if they just wanted to kill her, or kill all of us, they could have. They had _guns._ They wanted Angel _alive_ for some reason. And they didn't care if _we _were alive or not. I mean, they didn't go out of their way to make _sure _we were dead, is what I'm saying. So that makes me think we have time to go after Angel again."

I was surprised Nudge wasn't panting after that speech. Couldn't she have found a way to say that in a much shorter manner? But I understood what she was saying. And I could see where this was going. My thoughts were moving back to... that – place again. I couldn't even think the name.

"But they were in a chopper," said Gazzy. "They're way gone. They could be anywhere." He paused. "Like, China or something." I almost laughed, despite myself.

"I don't think they took her to China, Gazzy," said Max.

"We know where they took her," Fang said. I heard a fork scraping the bottom of the can. I wanted to run into another room. I didn't want to think about this. But I looked up. My eyes had tears in them. But I couldn't cry in front of Nudge, in front of Gazzy. I had to be strong, like Max.

"Where's that?" I asked. I knew the answer. But I was hoping, praying I was wrong. Please, please, please...

"The School." Fang and Max's words rang in my ears. Just those two words meant so much, brought back so many memories.

I couldn't breathe.


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I went on vacation to North Carolina! So that's why Iggy's been so lonely lately...:( But now I'm back! Oh... I know I say this, like, every other chapter, but... thank you sooooo much for the reviews! You guys are so nice! I should make an acronym for that..._

_TYFTR! Thank you for the reviews!_

I straightened suddenly, trying to shut down the thoughts that came along with those awful words. I felt pale and weak.

"They took Angel back to the School?" Gazzy asked.

"I think so," Max replied. I could detect the false bravery and calm in her voice. She was terrified. Just like the rest of us.

"Why?" Nudge's voice was a fearful whisper. "After four years, I thought maybe they had forgotten –"

"They want us back," Fang said.

It hadn't really occurred to me that that place might try to get us back. After Jeb, the man who saved us from that place, brought us here, I tried to think about my past as little as possible. I wanted it to become a chain of painful, fear-filled memories, as far back in my head as it could go. Sometimes it reappeared in my dreams, and I would wake up with tear-filled eyes and pajamas that were drenched in sweat. But then I would hear the silence and calm of our isolated mountain house, where no scientists could get us – or so I thought – and I was calmed. Now, it was like one of my nightmares come to life.

"They'll never forget about us," Max said. "Jeb wasn't supposed to take us out of there."

"Jeb knew they would do anything to get us back. If anyone ever discovered what they did to us, it would be the end of the School," Fang added.

"Why don't we tell on them, then?" Nudge asked. "We could go to a TV station and tell everyone and say, Look they grew wings on us, and we're just little kids, and –"

I wasn't as naïve as Nudge. "Okay, that would fix _them," _I cut in. "But _we'd _end up in a zoo."

"Well, what are we gonna do, then?" the Gasman demanded. I had never noticed how protective he was of his baby sister.

Just then, Fang walked in. I hadn't noticed him walk out, which wasn't unusual for Fang. Now he walked over to where Max was. I got up to see – figuratively, of course – what was going on. I now realized that Fang was holding a stack of old, smelly papers. I heard him shake something off.

"Eew," Nudge said. "Eew. Was that –"

I didn't get to hear what repulsive thing Fang had shaken off the papers, because he spoke.

"Here," Fang said, handing the papers to Max. I now realized that they were Jeb's old files. I helped Max and the rest of the flock spread the papers out on the table.

Fang started to look through the old papers, and finally found what he was looking for. I heard him open an envelope.

"What is that?" Gazzy inquired.

"Map," Fang replied, pulling a piece of paper from the envelope. Well, _that_ was helpful.

"Map of what?" Nudge pressed, and I felt her leaning forward curiously.

"Map of a secret facility," Max answered. Uh-oh... "In California. The School."

There were those two words again.


	9. Chapter 9

"Whaaat?" Gazzy said.

I felt myself go pale. Even though I had been expecting the answer. Even though I knew it was the only way we could save Angel.

"That's where they took Angel," Max clarified. "And that's where we have to go to get her back."

Somehow that statements made it much worse. The thought of – of actually _going _there... It was too much for me to take.

"Oh," said Nudge, and I prepared myself for a long string of sentences coming from Nudge. "Yeah. We have to go get Angel back. We can't let her stay there – with them. They're – monsters. They're going to do bad things to her. And put her in a cage. Hurt her. But there's five of us. So the rest of us have to go get _hmph _--"

I assumed someone had covered Nudge's mouth with their hand, which I was quite thankful for. I knew she couldn't help it, that when she was scared or worried, talking was her way of dealing with it. But I also knew that it was bad enough without Nudge chattering on and on.

Somehow she got out one last sentence. "Um, how far is it?"

"Six hundred miles, more or less," Fang said. Wow... that was far. "At least a seven-hour flight, not including breaks." Possibly the longest any of us had ever flown. I looked down, seeing nothing. I knew we had to get Angel back. But I also knew that if we went to where she was, we would most likely be captured too.

I couldn't look up. I couldn't believe I was going to say this, but... "Can we _discuss _this? We're way outnumbered."

"No," Max replied shortly.

"Can we take a vote?" I persisted. "They had _guns._ And a chopper." If we went to get Angel, we would be captured too, no use to anybody.

"Iggy," I heard the heat in Max's voice. "This is not a democracy. It's a Maxocracy. You know we have to go after Angel. You can't be thinking that we would just let them take her. The six of us look out for one another – no matter what. None of us is ever going to live in a cage again, not while I'm alive." She paused, taking a deep breath. I was given time to think. What had come over me? Of course we had to get Angel. But deep down inside, I was terrified. Suddenly Max spoke again.

"But actually, Nudge, Fang, and I are going after Angel. You and the Gasman – I need you to stay here. Hold down the fort. On the off chance Angel escapes and makes her way home."

There was a long pause, in which my fear was replaced by confusion, which shifted to shock, then changed to pure rage.

"You are so full of it," I said coldly. I turned towards her. "That's not why you want us here. Why don't you just say it?"

Max tried to sound gentle, which made me even angrier. "Okay. It's true. I don't want you to come. The fact is, you're _blind, _and while you're a great flyer around here where you know everything, I can't be worrying about you in the middle of a firefight with the Erasers."

I was furious. So that's all I was, the blind kid? I wasn't important enough to go on a rescue mission? I was just as much a member of the flock as Max was! I opened my mouth to shout at her, but Gazzy interrupted.

"What about _me?"_ he demanded. "I don't _care _if they have guns and a chopper and Erasers. She's _my _sister."

"That's right," Max replied. "And if they want her so bad, they might want _you_ just as bad. Plus, you're a great flyer, but you're eight years old, and we're going to be logging major hours."

She was treating us like children, even though I was the same age as her. I couldn't believe this.

"Jeb would never have made us stay. Never. Ever," I said.

"Maybe not," Max said. "We'll never know. Jeb's dead. Now everyone get your gear together."

Max had just said what we all knew but never wanted to admit. Her saying it made everything worse, but I couldn't do anything about it. I would be stuck here with a flatulent eight-year-old and my heavy emotions.

I sat and listened as my flock left me behind.

_Please review! I'm begging you!_


	10. Chapter 10

Eventually they left, and everything was silent. Gazzy had gone into his room and hadn't come out for hours. I was sitting on the couch, staring into space, seeing absolutely nothing, as usual. Eventually I couldn't sit still anymore. I got up stiffly and started restlessly pacing the room, weaving easily around the furniture I knew was in my way. At some point, the Gasman left his room. I barely noticed as he pushed past me. He sat down in the kitchen, saying nothing.

It wasn't my fault I was blind. It wasn't Gazzy's fault he was eight. Yet we had been left behind by the people we considered our family, the only people in the whole world we could trust. Now we were stuck here with no way of communicating with the others. We had to sit here and worry. And the worst thing was, though I would _never _admit it _anyone..._ I was sort of relieved. Hurt and furious at the same time, yeah, but – I couldn't hold down my relief that I wouldn't have to go back _there._ But just admitting it to myself made me feel like a totally awful person, and I silently scolded myself for even _thinking_ it.

It wasn't _fair!_ I lashed out blindly – literally, in my case – with a closed fist, hitting a door frame directly in front of me.

"Let's throw all their stuff into the canyon," I suggested. "I think even their beds would fit out the hall window."

"I can't believe _I _have to stay home while they go off and save my own sister," Gazzy added. He kicked the kitchen island angrily. He grabbed a handful of cereal and crunched it down as if the cereal had been the ones who left him behind.

I continued my pacing, then stopped abruptly when I heard a loud _smash!, _then the sound of hundreds of Frootios hitting the tile floor.

"This _sucks!_" the Gasman yelled, mostly to himself.

"Oh, did that just occur to you?" I said, my sarcasm making a reappearance for the first time since Angel's capture. Progress. "I guess you can't fool the Gasman. He might not _look_ like the sharpest tool in the shed, but --"

"Shut _up_," he interrupted. I raised my eyebrows. I hadn't meant to make him mad.

"Look," he continued. "This sucks so bad." Yes, we had established this. "Max left us here 'cause she thought we couldn't keep up."

My face stiffened. It sounded so _harsh_ when he said it like that.

"But was she thinking about what would happen if the Erasers came back here? Like, they got Angel not far from here – they _saw _all the rest of us. So they know we must be somewhere in the area. Why wouldn't they come back for us?"

"Huh," I said. Why hadn't I thought of this? "Course, it would be hard to find this place, and even harder to get to it." It wasn't a problem for us, because we could _fly._

"Not if they have a chopper. Which they do." Ah, yes. They had a friggin' _chopper._

"Huh," I repeated.

"Does that mean we have to sit here and take it?" The Gasman pounded his fist on the counter dramatically. "No! We don't have to wait for the Erasers to come get _us!_ We can do stuff! We can make _plans._ I mean, we're not useless, no matter what Max thinks."

I nodded in agreement. "Right." I walked toward the kitchen to sit by the Gasman and winced as my feet crushed the cereal bits strewn across the floor. "Yeah, I see what you mean. So to speak."

"I mean, we're smart!" the Gasman continued. "We're tough as nails! Max might not have thought about keeping the cap safe, but we did, and we can do it." It seemed like the Gasman had done a lot of thinking in his room.

"Yeah, now you're talking. Uhhh . . . But how?" I said intelligently.

"We could make traps! Do sabotage! Bombs!"

I grinned mischievously. "Bombs are good. I love bombs. Remember the one from last fall? I almost caused an avalanche." I smiled as I recalled the thrill that came from dropping a bomb into a forest, hearing the _booooooom!_, feeling the shock wave as the bomb exploded. I had to admit, blowing up those dog boys sounded like a much better plan than sitting around moping, feeling sorry for ourselves.

"That was to make a trail through the woods," the Gasman reminded me. "Okay. There was a reason for it. Max approved it." I heard him sifting through the pile of junk on the counter. Finally I heard him pull something out, then rip some sheets off of it. A memo pad.

"Knew it was around here." He dug through the junk again and found a pencil. "Now. We need a great plan. What are our objectives?"

I groaned. "Oh, no – years of Max influence are taking their toll. You sound just like her. You're like, a Maxlet. A Maxketeer. A... a..." I struggled to think of another description. I felt much better now that we had a plan. So much better that my sarcasm was coming back, bit by bit.

The Gasman started writing, repeating what he wrote out loud. "Number one: Make firebombs – for our _protection _only. Number two: Blow up demonic Erasers when they return." I smiled. A simple but effective plan. "Oh, yeah. Now we're getting somewhere. _This is for you, Angel!_"

This was going to be so much fun.


	11. Chapter 11

_Okay, something totally random I realized... Fang used to be my favorite character in MR, but after writing this for a while, I realized I like Ig a whole lot better now! (No offense to all the Fang-lovers out there, it's just an observation.) Haha, I guess that's what fanfic does to ya! :D Anywayz, R&R!_

Operation: Blow Up Demonic Erasers was well under way.

We had realized almost immediately that our pyro sides were pretty badly out of practice, and I couldn't quite remember how to actually make the bomb. Unfortunately, we had no books on bomb-making, and I wasn't willing to take a chance and go by my lacking memory. Then I remembered our old computer, sitting in the back of Jeb's old office. We had stopped using it after it started shutting down at random times, and all of us had been too lazy to fix it. I figured I could repair it, since Jeb had taught me a little about computers a few years back.

Once I figured out the problem and got it working again, the Gasman, being the only one talented in the vision department, had found a site about bombs and printed some pages off it. Although this probably wasn't the way the site creator had expected the site to be used, (a couple of mutant kids making a bomb to blow the heck out of another set of bloodthirsty mutants...) the schematics suited our purpose well.

So here I was, with explosive guts spread out in front of me, and the Gasman reading off instructions from the schematics. While he was waiting to give me the next set of instructions, I knew he was examining the other sheets of paper, because he kept reading off tips and facts that he deemed helpful or interesting.

This wasn't our only plan, of course. We had thought about it, and had another few tricks up our sleeve. But they were far from ready.

"Do we have any chlorine? It seems to be kind of explosive when mixed with other stuff," the Gasman said.

I frowned, thinking. Chlorine... Nope. "Like what, your socks? No, we don't have chlorine. No swimming pool. What color is this wire?" I carefully held up a wire, making sure not to touch the end to anything by mistake.

Gazzy paused. "It looks like a robot came in here and threw up. That wire's yellow."

"Okay," I said, cautiously picking up another wire. "Keep track of the yellow wire. Very important. Do not confuse it with the red one."

I sat back and patiently waited for my next instructions.

The Gasman turned a couple of pages. "Okey dokey. Next step, we need some kind of timing device."

I thought for a minute. Timing device... Clocks were timing devices, and the best kind would be an alarm clock. Hmmm... did we have an alarm clock anywhere? Then I remembered. A mischievous grin grew on my face.

"Well, _that's _an evil grin," the Gasman remarked, sounding nervous.

"Go get me Max's alarm clock," I said. "The Mickey Mouse one."


	12. Chapter 12

"Okay," I said. "We're being _very _careful. Hello? Gazzy? We're being _very _careful?" You can never be too careful. And maybe I'm selfish, but I like my face the way it is. You know, _not _blown up?

Gazzy patted Big Boy. "Check," said the Gasman. I just had to take his word for it.

"Nails?" I asked.

I heard him rattle the jar. "Check."

"Tarp? Cooking oil?"

"Check, check. We are _geniuses._ Those Erasers'll never know what hit 'em. If only we had time to dig a pit."

"Yeah, and put poison stakes at the bottom," I said, smiling wistfully at the thought. "But I think what we've got is good. Now we need to fly out, stay out of sight, and check on how the roads run, and whether the Erasers have made camp anywhere."

"Okay. Then we can seed the roads with the nails and set up the tarp and oil. We just have to make sure not to get caught."

"Yes," I said, struggling to keep a straight face. "That would be bad. Now, _is it night yet?_"

"Pretty much. I found you some dark clothes," the Gasman said. He pushed a shirt and pants toward me. "And I've got some too. So, you ready to roll?" He tried to mask the nervousness in his voice, but I wasn't fooled. I was nervous too. If we were caught, it would indeed be bad. We would be in the same predicament as Angel. At _that place._

"Yeah," I answered. "I'm bringing Big Boy in case an opportunity arises." I went into the bathroom and changed into my dark clothes, then came back out and stashed Big Boy in my backpack. I swung the bag carefully over my shoulder. Gazzy felt tense next to me as we walked toward the window.

"Don't worry," I reassured him. "It can't go off till I set the timer. It's, like, a safety bomb."

The Gasman said nothing. I could tell he was nervous. He opened the window and jumped up on the ledge. Suddenly, he threw himself off the windowsill and into the cool night sky.

I followed, a happy smile on my face, feeling like nothing could go wrong.

Even though pretty much everything could go wrong.

_Please, please, pleeeeease tell me what you think!_


	13. Chapter 13

I grimaced, my face streaked with sweat and oil. We had laid out the tarp and oil, seeded the road with nails, and now we were stretching a trip wire between two trees. Gazzy had thought of this while we were doing the nails, and I figured it was a pretty good idea. So here I was, looping the wire around the closest pine tree.

"Pliers," I said, holding out my hand. The Gasman obediently handed me the pliers. I started twisting the two wires together, my tongue between my teeth.

"You think that wire will hold?" the Gasman whispered cautiously.

I nodded distractedly, grabbing a cable clip and clamping it on the wires. I sat back against the tree, running my fingers along my handiwork, checking for anything that could cause our plan to work _not _perfectly.

"That'll hold a bit," I verified. "Until a certain Hummer hits it at top speed." I grinned evilly. This was one of those times that I wished with all my might that I could see, so I could watch as those evil dog boys hurtled into our wire at top speed. But wishes don't always come true, and for us, they hardly ever do.

"Back home?" I whispered.

"Yeah," Gazzy replied.

I stood up, unfurled my wings, and leaped into the air, flying towards home.

"We've covered the ways in and out. Oil slick, nails in the road, trip wire. That should do it," the Gasman said.

I nodded. "I'm bummed we couldn't use Big Boy. But I don't want to waste it. We have to actually see them first. I mean, _you_ do." I couldn't wait to drop Big Boy on the Erasers.

"Maybe tomorrow," Gazzy replied. "We'll go out and see what havoc we've wreaked."

"Wrought," I corrected, but with a smile.

"Whatever," he said.

I just knew I couldn't wait till the morning.


	14. Chapter 14

"Come on, come on," Gazzy whispered next to me. Ugh, I hated having no idea what was going on.

"What's happening?" I whispered impatiently. "Tell me everything."

"The Hummer's _coming,_" he replied.

"On the right road?" I demanded.

"Uh-huh. And they're driving too fast."

"They're not practicing safe driving habits. Tsk. What a shame," I said, grinning excitedly.

"Okay, they're coming up. Another quarter mile."

"Can you see the tarp?" I asked quickly.

"No," he answered.

There was a pause as I sat tensely, waiting for the tell-tale crash that would tell me that we had done good.

"Any second now," the Gasman muttered excitedly.

"Hope they're wearing their seat belts. _Not!_"

Suddenly I heard a bunch of crashes down below. I knew the Gasman was staring down at the crashed Hummer in awe. I scowled. A few more crashes later, the noise below stopped, and Gazzy let out a long breath.

"Whoa. That was _incredible._"

"You have two seconds to give me the picture," I said threateningly. Gazzy started, seeming to have forgotten I was there, then answered.

"It hit the oil, all right. It spun, hit the trees, and did a flip. Now it's on its back, like a big, ugly, dead beetle."

"Yes!" I punched the air. "Signs of life?" I asked hopefully.

"Uh... oh, yeah. Yeah, one of them just punched out a window. Now they're climbing out. They look pretty dang mad. They're walking, so they're not that hurt."

My face fell. I won't lie, I was pretty disappointed. But, then again, now we still had a chance to use Big Boy.

"Shoot," I said. "Any point in dropping Big Boy on them right now?"

"I don't think so. They're talking on walkie-talkies. Now they're heading straight into the woods. We'd probably cause a huge forest fire or something."

"Hmm." I frowned thoughtfully. "Okay. We need to regroup, come up with Phase Two. How about we hang at the old cabin for a minute?"

"Cool. Let's go. We've done enough good for one day."


	15. Chapter 15

We flew happily to the small cabin, a few hundred yards from our house. Once we got there, Gazzy opened the door, and I smiled. I hadn't been here in a while. I recognized all the sounds, the wood creaking under our feet, the scratching of the trees on the windows. I found my favorite seat, a strangely comfortable broken old lawn chair, and sat down.

"So Phase One is complete," I said. I sniffed the air. It smelled the same as ever, a woody smell that brought back memories of hide-and-seek (which, for some reason, I hadn't been very good at. Go figure.) and eating contests (which I _had _been good at) in this old cabin. "We haven't been here in ages."

"Uh-huh," Gazzy replied. "In case you're wondering, it's still a dump."

"It's always been a dump. That's why we like it," I said truthfully.

"Man, I can't get over it – that tarp full of oil so totally wiped the Hummer out," Gazzy said. "It was kind of – scary. To really do it."

I couldn't wait to use Big Boy. Unable to hold in my excitement, I opened my backpack and took the bomb out, running my fingers over it. I thought about what Gazzy had said – "_This is for you, Angel!"_ – and smiled a little, thinking of Angel's small and sweet voice. Then my smile changed to a scowl. Those Erasers had taken her away from us. We were going to make them regret ever messing with us.

"We have to eliminate the Erasers," I said quietly. "So they can't ever hurt us again."

"So they can't ever take Angel again," Gazzy said earnestly. "I say we bomb the chopper."

I nodded and stood up. "Yeah. Listen, let's get out of here, get back home, make more plans."

I started to walk forward when I felt it -- the weak floorboards vibrating, just a little, underneath my feet.

I froze, signaling to Gazzy to stay put. My eyes flicked in all directions as I listened closely, concentrating hard.

"Did you hear?" the Gasman asked nervously.

I nodded, holding up my hand.

"Maybe a raccoon --"

"Not in the daytime," I interrupted, barely letting out a sound.

Just then I heard _something _scratching on the door to my right. My head snapped around even though I couldn't see anything.

"Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in," came the unmistakable voice of an Eraser through the door.

There was a pause as I began to slowly edge backwards, almost tripping over my chair, my heart pounding.

I heard another scratch at the door and stopped dead. I felt totally helpless.

The Gasman started to move slowly to the right, and I followed slowly. I knew he was heading for the window.

We didn't get there in time. I heard a huge crash and the door burst open. I was showered in splintered wood.

"Eight o'clock!" the Gasman cried, and I prepared to throw myself out the window. Gazzy did the same next to me. Just as my knees started to bend, the Gasman gasped.

"Hey, piggy, piggy, piggy." The Eraser's voice, muffled by the window, was sickeningly angelic. Anyone but us would be entranced by the serene voice. We had been trained.

But you didn't need training to know that this was _not _good.


	16. Chapter 16

Okay. I knew that any other person in this situation would totally panic. But I had been trained _not_ to panic. I had to think on my feet, come up with a plan.

Window blocked. Door... well, shattered, but still blocked.

So the only way to go was... up.

Of course! What did we have that the Erasers didn't? They had the muscles, but we had _wings._

I was pretty sure the wood in the roof was weak enough to break through. Well, it was our only hope, so we had to try.

Now how to tell the Gasman without alerting the Erasers?

I edged a bit closer to the Gasman. "Up and away," I whispered, without turning, barely moving my lips, trying to give the Erasers no sign that I had spoken. I could only hope Gazzy had heard me.

A sudden, huge crash made me jump. An Eraser climbed through the – now broken – window. I backed up a little.

"Guess what?" the first Eraser asked. "We got the little one – they don't need you two alive." They cackled meanly. My heart skipped a beat. What about Max, Fang, and Nudge? Did that mean they were going to kill them, too? Were they already – I didn't want to think about it. I closed my eyes and swallowed.

I could worry about that later. Right now I had to focus on _not getting killed._ You think your math homework is hard? Try a fight to the _death._ I'd take the homework any day.

The Erasers paused, and I could tell by the slight tensing of the Gasman next to me that they were morphing. I was glad I couldn't see them.

"Boys, boys," an Eraser said sweetly. "Didn't anyone ever tell you? You can run, but you can't hide."

"_Ready?" _I breathed.

I felt the Gasman's hands curl into fists. He had heard me.

"This freak's _blind,_" one Eraser said, and fury boiled inside me. Who was he calling _freak?_ This dude seriously needed a reality check. "Don't worry, kid. It'll all be over soon, and you won't have to worry about being blind anyomore. But it's a shame they didn't give you one of their new eyes – like mine."

I didn't know what he meant, and judging by the Gasman's sudden intake of breath, I was pretty sure I didn't want to.

The Erasers cackled again. "You left before they could fix you up with the latest techology," the Eraser said. "Your loss."

"How about it, piggies?" the other Eraser taunted. "Do you want to try to run? Who knows – you might get luck. For a little while."

I heard the Erasers start to walk slowly towards us.

Okay. In the words of our great leader, Maximum Ride, it was time to _blow this joint._

"_On three," _I said. "_One."_ I felt the Gasman tense. _"Two."_ I prepared for the leap. "Three!" The Gasman and I shot into the air in unison, unfurling our wings and pushing towards the roof. I heard a roar from one of the Erasers below and suddenly Gazzy wasn't at my side anymore. I shot through the weak wood in the roof and flew straight up, hoping Gazzy had gotten away.

I heard him push through the roof below me, but then he slid sideways.

"_Gasser! Move!"_ I yelled, pulling out Big Boy and beginning to set the timer. The Gasman flew up to me and I threw our homemade bomb into the cabin.

"Move, move, move!" I urged, flapping with all my might.

Below us, Big Boy went boom.

It was my favorite sound in the world. _Ba-ba-boooooooooooooooooooom!_

The shock wave sent me head over heels, but still I grinned like a little kid on Christmas morning.

We had to do this more often.

We hovered there for what felt like hours, just listening to the fire crackling below us.

"Well," I said finally, "that takes care of _them."_

The Gasman said nothing.

"Unless they excaped," I added, remembering the tarp and oil.

The Gasman cleared his throat. "No," he said, sounding a little disgusted. "They're dead."

He sounded pretty sure. His voice was quiet, and I decided not to press him for details.

"Take _that,_" he said, with a bit more snarl in his voice this time. "That was for my sister, for _Angel, _you scum-sucking jerks."

A few seconds later, I heard a car engine down below. My heart sank. There were _more?_

"Come on, Iggy," the Gasman said. "Let's get out of here."

_Push the green button. You know you want to..._


	17. Chapter 17

We didn't fly home. I realized that we probably would never go back there. By now the Erasers were probably there, waiting for us to come back. We didn't feel like being killed today. So we flew. We had no specific destination. We just flew.

Eventually Gazzy found a small hole in a cliff we flew by. We landed there to rest. The entrance was blocked by plants, so we would be safe for a while.

"We're pretty safe, unless the Erasers catch our scent," Gazzy whispered.

I sat back and laid my hands on my knees, trying to get comfortable on the hard rock. "Well, this is a total suckfest. I thought with those two Erasers taking dirt naps, we'd be free and clear, at least for a while. They must have sent for backup even before they attacked the cabin."

"At least we took two of them out," Gazzy said. His voice was quiet and -- was there guilt somewhere in there?

That's when I thought about it. We had _killed_ those two Erasers. And, as much as we hated to admit it, they had been victims of the whitecoats as much as us. It wasn't their fault they were the way they were. They were people too.

But nothing could justify taking Angel away from us. I just couldn't forgive them for that, victims or not.

"Yeah, but what now?" I said, trying to ignore the newly developed feeling of guilt deep in my gut. "We're kinda all dressed up with no place to go. There's no way we can go home – they're probably everywhere. What are we supposed to do with ourselves? And what if Max and the others come back just to fly into an ambush?"

"I don't know," the Gasman replied. "I hadn't thought beyond just blowing them the heck up. Maybe _you_ should come up with a plan."

Great... I had to come up with a plan. Because I was the _oldest._ I sighed.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly Gazzy's stomach rumbled loudly.

"Tell me about it," I grumbled. We hadn't eaten anything since early this morning. I rested my head on my knees. I wanted to eat a huge dinner and go to sleep. But of course, that wasn't going to happen.

"Okay, okay," the Gasman said. "I have an idea. It's risky, and Max will kill us when she finds out."

I raised my head, interested. "Sounds like my kind of idea."


	18. Chapter 18

We flew side by side, the tip of my wing brushing against the Gasman's so I could tell where he was. The Gasman dropped suddenly, then flew back up, cackling. He stopped just underneath me. I laughed, swooping downward and punching him in the shoulder.

We were on our way to meet Max, Fang, and Nudge. We both agreed that they would kill us when we met up with them, but death by birdkid sounded better than death by Eraser. We had been flying for maybe three hours, and I was getting hungry. But we didn't want to stop until we found the others.

At one point, about two hours into our journey, the Gasman swore he saw a girl that looked just like Max walking into a veterinary clinic. But, as I reminded him, Max would be with Fang and Nudge. And what would she be doing at a vet's office, anyway? So I dismissed this and kept flying.

We flew for another half hour, until I heard a loud rumbling from below me.

"Sorry," the Gasman said sheepishly. "Hungry."

"Yeah," I agreed. "What I wouldn't give for a plate of bacon right about now."

His stomach rumbled again.

Suddenly I smelled something. I sniffed hopefully.

"Hey," I said. "What's that smell?"

"It smells like... meat," the Gasman said in wonder.

"And... peppers. Onions," I added, grinning. "What do you say we go find out if they'll share?"

"Defin -- wait."

"What?" I asked.

"I thought I saw – there it is again!" the Gasman said excitedly. "Follow me!"

I followed. "Wait! Gazzy! What did you see?"

"It's Fang and Nudge! Down below us! Come on!"

I grinned and followed him downward. We landed awkwardly on a cliff ledge.

There was a long silence. Then came Nudge's familiar voice. "You aren't _dead._"

I blinked, wondering what she was talking about, then quickly recovered.

"No. You aren't dead either," I said, trying to sound irritable, even though I was beaming inside. "How about just 'hello'?"

"Hi, guys," the Gasman said. "We couldn't stay home – there's Erasers all over the mountain. So we decided to come here. Anybody have a problem with that?"

"Now, if you don't mind," I said. I followed my nose forward and crouched down, reaching forward and grabbing a piece of chicken.


	19. Chapter 19

I sat down on the ground. Gazzy sat next to me.

"Where's Max?" the Gasman asked.

Fang and Nudge didn't answer at first.

"Well..." Nudge said. "We don't actually _know._"

My eyes widened. "_What?_"

"She went down yesterday to help a girl who was being bullied," Fang said. "She told us to wait for her here. We haven't heard from her since."

I sighed. It was in Max's nature to help anyone who was in trouble. She had been that way for as long as I could remember.

"Well, should we go find her?" I asked.

"For now, we'll wait for her. If she takes too much longer, then yeah, we'll go find her."

I shrugged. "Okay." Fang was in charge, after all. I lay down with my hands behind my head. "So what's been going on with you guys?"

The Gasman came and sat down next to me.

"Well, first," Nudge began. "We stopped to eat at a cute little cabin in the mountains, but we ended up falling asleep and staying for, like, ten _hours._ So then we kept going and Max saw that girl and went down, and then we came here."

It sounded like she might be intentionally leaving a few things out, but before I could ask, the biggest bird I had ever heard – at least I assume it was a bird – swooped through the cave.

There was a pause.

"Oh, yeah..." Nudge said sheepishly.

"What the heck was _that?"_ the Gasman demanded.

"They're these really awesome hawks. We've learned some moves and stuff from them," Fang jumped in. There was so much enthusiasm in his voice that I wondered if the Gasman was doing his voice imitations again.

"Oh, cool!" the Gasman said. "I wanna learn!"

So we spent the rest of the day following the hawks as they swooped and soared through the open air. I learned a few useful tricks that I tucked away in my mind for later use.

I was glad that hawk had interrupted us just as it was our turn to tell our story. Maybe I could delay Gazzy's and my premature death a little longer.

That evening, we sent Fang to raid a Mickey D's dumpster, and he came back with his jacket stuffed full of burgers and fries. The Gasman whooped.

As I chewed happily on my Big Mac, Fang came to sit next to me. The Gasman and Nudge were off on the other side of the cave, watching the hawks.

"There's something Nudge didn't tell you."

I raised my eyebrows curiously.

"In Jeb's old files, Nudge found her name. And Tipisco, Arizona. Which just happens to be right below us. So she went down there, and..."

"And what?" I asked.

"Well, we found the address. And there was a lady there, who had about the same skin tone as Nudge. I'm not saying Nudge was her spitting image, but there's a chance."

I was speechless. Had Nudge found her parents?

"But that's not all," Fang went on. "Do you remember, back at the School, that little kid who used to wander around the halls and stuff? Jeb's son, Ari?"

I nodded, remembering back to when I could still see, when I knew what my best friends looked like. How ironic that I spent the only time in my life when I could see with the people who took that away from me.

"He was only, like, three years old, right?" I asked.

"Something like that. Anyway, did you ever think about what happened to him when Jeb took us away from the School?"

I frowned. "Yeah, a few times. But I figured he had a mom somewhere who could take care of him."

"Well... he's back. And they made him into an Eraser."

"What? Did the whitecoats have permission from Jeb to do that?" I asked incredulously.

"I don't know. The point is, he's a bloodthirsty dog boy now, and he wants to kill us. _He_ helped take Angel."

My eyes widened. I remembered chasing the Erasers who had Angel, when Max had tried to get into the Erasers' chopper. I had heard a voice that I recognized, but I hadn't thought about it until now. It had been Ari in the chopper. I was sympathetic, not just for Ari, but for Jeb. Had Jeb known before he died that Ari had been turned into an Eraser? I felt a pang of guilt as I realized that I had hardly given that kid a second thought.

"Anyway, I think we should go look for Max if she's not back by tomorrow."

"'Kay," I said.

We did our stacky-tappy-thingie and went to bed on the hard rock of the cave floor.


	20. Chapter 20

In the morning, we immediately went in search of nourishment for our rumbling stomachs. We eventually settled on McDonald's – again – and flew back to the cave with biscuits and hash browns in tow.

After we ate, I sat down against the wall and leaned my head back. I had only been sitting for a few minutes when I heard small feet trot up to me.

"Iggy! Iggyiggyiggyiggyiggy!"

"What, Nudge?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Fang says we're gonna go fly," she said in an incredibly annoying singsong voice.

"Mmkay."

I stayed where I was. Nudge giggled and called Gazzy over. "Well, if you wanna do it the hard way..." Together they hauled me up and dragged me to the cave entrance.

"Ready?" Nudge said mischievously.

"Wait, ready for what?" I said, trying to escape their hold. But they held tight. When had Nudge gotten so strong?

The Gasman snickered. "Uh-huh. On three."

I struggled even harder. But I couldn't escape their grasp.

"One. Two. Three!"

They threw me off the ledge together. I quickly opened my wings and flapped furiously, even though I knew the ground was a hundred feet below me. I didn't really want to go splat today.

Behind me, I could hear Nudge and Gazzy laughing their butts off. I set my jaw and flew back.

"Nudge!"

She shrieked and ran in the other direction. The Gasman followed her, still laughing. I shook my head and flew away in Fang's direction.

"Nice," he said when I reached him. I punched him hard in the arm.

A few hours later, we were still flying. We had started flying in loose formation with the hawks, imitating their moves.

Suddenly the Gasman stopped flying. Fang and Nudge quickly stopped too.

They swerved in the other direction.

"What's going on?" I asked.

The Gasman quickly answered, "Max is back!"

Three thoughts entered my brain at once. One: Good. Max was safe. Two: She had left us behind. I was still a little hurt. Three: Oh, no. We were goners.

We swerved in the direction of the cave.

Max reached us, and Nudge squealed. "Max! Max! I can't believe it! _Can_ I believe it?"

I landed after Gazzy and moved to the back of the cave so Nudge and Max could land.

"Max!" Nudge cried, and she ran over to Max. They embraced, lalala, happy moment. I don't _do_ happy moments. "We were so worried – I didn't kow what had happened to you, and we didn't know what to do, and Fang said we were going to eat rats, and –"

I grinned at the rat comment. Way to go, Fang.

I was still holding a bit of a grudge against Max, but the moment I heard her voice, all my anger melted away. For the moment, anyway. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed her.

"Okay, okay. Everything's okay," Max said soothingly. "I'm just so glad to see you safe." She paused. Oh, no. Here it came. I wondered if she would let us choose how we died, or --

"What are _you two _doing here? Why didn't you stay home?" she asked severely.

The Gasman spoke first. "We couldn't," he said. "There were Erasers all over the mountain. They were hunting for us. We'd be dog meat by now."

I sent the Gasman a mental high five. Maybe she would just leave it at that. Maybe she would just assume we had been good birdkids.

"When did they start hunting for you? Right after we left?"

I grimaced slightly.

"No," the Gasman replied slowly. I tried to look casual, brushing dust off my pants.

"What?" Max asked suspiciously. "When did they start coming after you?"

This was it. We were dead. Goodbye, Angel, I'm sorry I never let you have tea parties with your stuffed animals in my room --

"Was it -- was it after they oil-slick Hummer crash?" the Gasman asked quietly. I rubbed my chin, trying to imagine the look on Max's face. I tried to look casual, like I was trying to remember.

"Or maybe it was more -- after the bomb."

"I think it was the bomb," I said slowly. "That definitely seemed to tick them off."

I braced myself for the blow. Goodbye, Nudge, I'm sorry for all the times I tried to tape your mouth shut --

"Bomb? _Bomb?_ You guys set off a _bomb?_ Didn't that tell the Erasers exactly where you were? You should have stayed hidden!"

Wait till she found out about her alarm clock.

She should have been expecting it, anyway. Of course we were going to cause chaos. We were Gazzy and Iggy.

Through all of this, I could almost feel the smirk radiating off of Fang like heat. He was sure to be getting a kick out of this. Note to self: Knee Fang in the soft spot later.

"They already knew where we were," the Gasman said quickly. "They'd seen all of us -- they knew we were in the area."

"It was just a matter of time," I agreed.

There was a long pause where I knew Max was struggling for words. I tried not to grin.

Finally she spoke. "Well, I'm glad you're safe," she said. Fang tried to cover up his snickering. "You were right to come here. Smart thinking. Excellent."

I couldn't believe our luck. We'd gotten out of it without so much as a broken nose!

We were good.

Max took me by surprise by hugging me. I awkwardly hugged her back.

A smell reached my nostrils. _Cookies._ I'd had cookies once at the School. They had wanted to reward me for cooperating with some test they'd done, so they gave me a cookie one of the scientists had brought to work. I had been totally shocked, and it had been _delicious._ I'd never had one after that, but the smell stuck with me all this time. My eyes narrowed. Max had been eating _cookies?_

Max moved on to Nudge. "It's okay, sweetie," she cooed comfortingly.

Finally, she went to hug Fang. I tried not to snicker.

I heard Max hold out her left fist. Fang put his on top, then I put mine on. Gazzy and Nudge followed. We tapped hands, and threw our arms up in the air.

"To Angel!" Max cried.

"To Angel!" we repeated.

Then we fell, one by one, off of the cliff, spread our wings, and set out after Angel.


	21. Chapter 21

"Okay," Max said. "How about some quick reports?"

"I tried to find my mom," Nudge said suddenly, taking all of us by surprise.

"Whaaat?" Max said. "Your _mom?_"

Nudge tried to sound casual, but I heard the hurt in her voice. "I made Fang go down to Tipisco while we were waiting for you. We found the right address. I saw a woman, and she was my kind of color, but I wasn't sure. Then the Erasers, including that dirtbag Ari, showed up, so we kicked butt and left."

Wow. Poor Nudge.

There was a pause. Then Max replied, "So you didn't talk to her? Umm, your mom?"

"No," Nudge said briefly.

And even if she had, what was there to say? "Hi, I'm Nudge, I think I'm your long-lost daughter." Cops would be called, chaos would ensue.

"Did she look nice?" Max asked.

"I'll tell you about it later," she said casually.

Wow. I felt really bad for her. But for all we knew, that lady had nothing to do with Nudge. There was no way to tell.

"We know what _you've_ been up to," Max said to me and Gazzy. I gave a slight grin.

Max paused like she was readying herself for something. Maybe she would fess up about the cookies. "I think I have a tracer chip implanted in me. I'm not positive, but it showed up on an X-ray, and that's what it looked like."

My jaw dropped. I stared in Max's direction. Okay, I had _not _been expecting that.

"You had an X-ray?" Fang said incredulously, like that was the craziest thing he'd ever heard. Like we didn't have a bigger issue to worry about.

"Details late," Max said. "If I do have this chip, it explains all the Erasers everywhere – but not why it's taken them four years to hunt us down."

Did this mean we all had them? My hand flew to my arm almost of its own accord, like I would be able to feel it there.

"And I don't know if any of you have one," Max added.

That's when it hit me. When we had been flying to meet the rest of the flock, the Gasman had seen a girl that looked identical to Max walking into a _vet's office._ That really had been her. Which brought up the question, what had she been doing at a vet's office?

"Max?" the Gasman asked, trying to inject bravery into his small, fearful voice. "Do you think there's still a chance?"

"I don't know. I hope so," Max said, not even trying to lie. She knew that it could be too late. Angel could be gone forever.

"I know I've delayed us by two days. I'm really sorry about that. I just did what I felt I had to do. But we've come this far – there's no turning back. We're going after Angel, no matter what."


	22. Chapter 22

We flew for another hour or two. I wondered what the rest of the flock could see below us. I wasn't jealous, not really, but sometimes I wondered what it would be like if the scientist's experiment hadn't gone wrong.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the memory. Waking up, wondering where the lights had gone. I had been too young to understand that the lights weren't coming back on. The whitecoats had laughed at, even enjoyed, my helplessness as I stumbled and fell, ran into walls that I hadn't realized were there. I had felt like I was trapped, an immense wall of darkness pressing in on me relentlessly. Eventually I had gotten used to it, even started to find some advantages. A few months after I went blind, I had heard beeping coming from a room somewhere near our cages. I had asked Max what that noise was, and she had no idea what I was talking about. I realized that my sense of hearing was becoming much more developed that the others'.

But I still couldn't help wishing, sometimes –

"We learned some stuff from the hawks," Fang said, interrupting my thoughts. "Some banking moves, how they communicate, stuff like that."

"They're really cool," Nudge said. "They, like, use the tips of their feathers to help aim them, and we tried it, and it was amazing. A little thing like that makes such a difference. Like, I practically didn't even know I could move those feathers."

"Can you teach us what you learned?" Max asked.

"Yeah, sure," Fang said, with a little more enthusiasm than usual.

We showed Max the hawks' unusual moves and styles of flying. Nudge showed me and Gazzy a new way to bank. It was pretty fun, sort of like the old days, when Jeb was still teaching us how to fly.

I was pretty ticked off when I learned that Max hadn't brought back any cookies. All we had left were several granola bars, which were quickly devoured.

Eventually the hawks peeled off, and we were left alone in the incredible, enormous sky.

A few minutes after my stomach started rumbling loudly, Fang tapped my hand and we angled downward. Finally. I was _starving._

We landed on the ground, and I folded my wings in tightly.

"Okay, we need food. And a street map wouldn't be the worst idea in the world," Max said.

"The School isn't going to show up on any map," Fang pointed out.

"I know. But we know pretty much where it is – there'll be a blank space on the map, but it would still help us to find roads to get there."

We set off. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I knew there would probably be food at our destination, and that was all I cared about. For now.

The closer we got to the School, the more my head started to hurt. What were we going to do when we got there. It wasn't like we could barge in the doors and demand that they hand her over. We would have to be sneaky and quiet, two things I was pretty good at. Years of following Gazzy around the house, waiting until the perfect moment to grab his shoulders and scream "ERASER!" had taught me those skills. But I was _blind, _and the fear of getting accidentally left behind was too much for me to comprehend. I trusted Max, I knew she would never let the whitecoats get any of us, but still – I would die before going back there for good.

After about fifteen minutes, we stopped walking.

"What is it?" I whispered to Gazzy.

"Oh. Sorry. Strip mall," he said. "Dollar store, gas station, bank thingie, dry cleaner's, and a beauty salon."

I frowned. Darn it. None of those places would have much, foodwise.

"Need to get your hair done?" Fang asked. Nudge giggled quietly.

"Well, what now?" the Gasman asked. "Should we keep going?"

"Let me think," Max said.

I could hear a car engine in the distance. I was about to warn Fang when Max spoke.

"Okay," she said. The car was getting closer. I started to back up. "Looks like we'll have to –"

Suddenly the car pulled quickly into the small parking lot.

We drew back into the bushes behind us to hide. A bunch of kids standing in the parking lot of a strip mall in the middle of nowhere, with no adults, would probably attract attention. Something we didn't want.

The car's window was rolled down, and his annoyingly loud music screamed in my ears.

"Shut up, you idiot!" the guy said. "If you hadn't lost your card, I wouldn't need cash!"

I heard him type in a bunch of numbers. Absentmindedly, I tried to identify the numbers he typed in. It was a game I liked to play back at the School, whenever a whitecoat used the phone or typed in numbers on the keypads that let them in and out of doors. Over time, I had learned to recognize the different tones that each number made. But I hadn't played it in a long time, and I could only make out a few of the numbers.

"That's what I get for trusting you with anything!" the guy said. "You can't handle getting dressed in the morning!"

"Jerk," Nudge whispered. Just what I had been thinking.

Then I heard another car coming. I narrowed my eyes. The loud car's engine sounded strangely familiar. The truck – I was pretty sure it was a truck – pulled into the parking lot, kicking up small rocks. The rocks hit the jerk dude's car, and we moved back a bit more.

"He's going to go ballistic," Fang said.

Fang's prediction was, of course, correct. A string of words left the jerk's mouth, words that I won't repeat here for the sake of the younger readers.

The truck's window rolled down, and Max gasped quietly.

"What'd you say, dipstick?" said Ari.


	23. Chapter 23

_I was looking over the previous chapters, and I found a few typos and stuff like that. If anybody noticed those... sorry! I try to look over my chapters before I upload them, but sometimes I overlook stuff. Those things are pretty small things to upload a whole new chapter over, though. So I'm gonna leave them. :)_

_Oh yeah. THANK YOU to bookworminpeace, Vladfan4, and Aleria14 for repeatedly reviewing! Thanks! Reviews keep me going! TYFTR!_

So Ari really was back. I mean, I knew he was, but now I was sure. I had heard his voice for myself.

I tried to draw back even more. Max shushed us. "Shhh. Shhhh." Like I wasn't _trying_?

I grinned, imagining the guy's face as he stomped on the gas and raced out of there like he had just seen a crazy mutant half-wolf half-man. Oh. Wait.

Ari laughed, making me shiver, and drove away, kicking up gravel in his wake.

We were silent.

"He gets around," Fang remarked.

"Was Ari's hair _green?_" Max said.

"Yep," Nudge said. I figured it must have something to do with her little side trip.

I heard a faint beeping. It was the ATM.

The guy had left his card in the ATM. I knew the others were thinking the same thing. So we all got down low and hurried across the parking lot to the ATM.

Max read the screen.

"Get cash," Fang said.

"You think?" Max said sarcastically.

"Hurry," the Gasman urged. Every time I heard a footstep from inside the dollar store, I jumped.

Max pushed a button, then paused. "Sixty dollars?"

"He was a total jerk," Fang said. "Take him for all he's got."

"You are _evil_," said Max. "I like that."

I didn't know who that guy was or what his problem was, but I _did_ know he was going to be pretty ticked off when he found out his card was missing. I smirked a little.

I heard as Max started to look at his account balances. I didn't know how much money he would have, but, by the way everyone whistled, and by the way Nudge started dancing and said, "Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. We're ri-ich, we're gonna buy a ca-ar, oh, yeah," I figured it was probably a lot. _Cha-ching._

"Hold on, guys," Max interrupted. "We can only withdraw two hundred bucks at a time."

Everyone groaned. "But that's still enough money to keep us fed. For a while, at least," Fang reminded us.

Then Max hit another button, and then paused.

"Oh, no," Max said.

"What?" I whispered quickly to Gazzy, since everybody else seemed to know what was going on.

"We need the access code," he whispered back.

"Did anyone see it?" Max asked. I frowned.

"I _heard_ it," I said, unsure.

"I think if we put in the wrong code more than twice, the whole thing shuts down and swallows the card," Fang said helpfully.

"Can you do it?" Max asked.

"Um, I'll try..." I said slowly. I reached forward, found the keypad, and felt for the little bump that told me where the five was. I touched each key carefully, memorizing where each one was.

"It's okay, Ig," Fang said. "Just give it your best shot."

I concentrated hard and tried to remember the tones I had heard.

I hit 85513 and held my breath, my eyes closed.

Everyone sighed, which told me I had been wrong. One more try...

"Try again. You've got the best ears on the planet," Max reassured me, trying to sound comforting. But I could hear in her voice that she was stressed. We needed the money. And if I got this wrong, where would we get it? The whole flock was depending on me. Including Angel.

No pressure.

I put my hand back up to the keypad and tried again. I was sure about the 8 and the 5's. 855...27?

I typed it in slowly. There was a long silence. Way to draw it out, stupid machine.

Then the machine began whirring, making me jump.

"Yes!" Fang said. "Freaks rule."

I had to agree.

"Grab it and go!" Max urged. Nudge started pulling out the bills.

Just as we turned to get the heck out of there, the machine beeped again.

"Okay, thank _you_," Max said, pulling the card out of the machine. I tucked the code into my memory for future use.

We turned and ran for the woods.

For once, I felt useful.


	24. Chapter 24

_I've got nothing against James Patterson, but, in my opinion, he really needs to give Iggy more of an important part in the books. This chapter was really hard to do because Iggy is only featured in it TWICE. Which, of course, was very frustrating. So if this chapter stinks... sorry. :)_

We ran into the trees behind the strip mall. The Gasman was laughing uncontrollably. "I can't believe we took that dude's money! Haha! We are _awesome!_"

"Too bad we couldn't get more," Fang said. Just then I heard a car drive up, and someone got out. I didn't pay much attention to it.

"Let's go back to the gas station and buy a bunch of food," Nudge said.

"People there may have already seen us," Max said. "We've got to get out of here." I sighed. My rumbling stomach would have to wait. And who knew when we were going to stop next?

The guy who got out of the car punched in some sort of card – or, at least, that's what it sounded like – and went inside. There was a pause. Finally my mind registered what Max and Fang must be thinking. I grimaced. _Don't do it, don't do it, this is not a good idea..._

"Money from a jerk is one thing," Max said. "A car from just a guy is something else."

"We'd only need to borrow it for a few hours. We could leave him some money as a rental fee," Fang suggested.

"Are we stealing that car? Let's," our irresponsible little eight-year-old said excitedly. (Yeah, I know, I'm one to talk.)

"No. We're sort of _thinking_ about _borrowing_ it," Max said. I almost snorted. Yeah, right.

"That's like Grand Theft Auto," said Gazzy. "I saw it on TV. It's popular with kids."

An all-too-familiar sound reached my ears. "Better 'borrow' it soon," I said. "I hear a chopper."

Max sighed. "Come on."

I couldn't believe she was taking advice from _the Gasman._

She led us over to the van and told me to get in the driver's seat and push the gas. I obediently opened the door and climbed inside. That guy needed to learn how to lock his car door.

Anyway, while I pressed the pedal down, she did some weird thing under the hood. Don't ask what. I have absolutely no idea.

Finally the engine started, Max slammed down the hood, and I moved into the back so she could get in. Nudge and Gazzy got in, and somehow I ended up sitting in the middle, with Nudge on my left and Gazzy on my right.

Then it hit me. Max didn't know how to drive.

"Oh, my God," Fang said. "None of us has ever driven." Way to go, Sherlock.

"I've seen people drive on TV," Max said. "How hard could it be?" I braced myself for a bumpy ride.

Max shifted into Drive. "Okay, guys," Max said. "Here goes nothing."

And thus began our long streak of thievery.

_PLEASE review! I haven't asked in a while... so please?_


	25. Chapter 25

Max pressed the gas down – and the car made a weird lurch forward but didn't move.

"Oh, now what?" Max asked irritably.

Fang sighed. "You have to release the parking brake."

"Oh," Max said sheepishly. "Well, where is it?"

"I don't know!" Fang said. "What do I look like, a mechanic?"

Max took a deep breath... and let it out. "Ig, do you know where it is?"

This whole time, Nudge, Gazzy, and I had been struggling to keep our laughter contained, and now I had to compose my face so Max wouldn't, you know, _kill_ me.

"Yeah," I said. I got up and showed Max the parking brake, which had been sitting there in plain sight – well, for her, at least – the whole time. I smirked a little and went back to my seat.

"Oh. Thanks, Iggy," Max said quietly.

Nudge and Gazzy were now shaking with silent laughter. I elbowed them both, grinning.

"No problem."

"Okay," Max said. "_Now_ here goes nothing."

She pressed the gas a little too hard, we careened out of the parking lot, and Nudge shrieked, almost falling out of her seat.

"Sorry!" Max called apologetically over shoulder. "This is harder than I thought."

The road must have been relatively empty, or else we would have crashed by now. I hoped it would stay that way.

Max managed to get control of the steering wheel. Everything went smoothly for a few minutes. And then we came to a turn.

First of all, Max didn't slow down. I wasn't sure if she knew how to brake yet. So when we hit the turn and she suddenly spun the steering wheel at the last minute, the van actually went up _on two wheels_ and stayed like that for about ten seconds. We all screamed, even Max and Fang, and I think Fang took the wheel from Max for a second. The van came back down and the wheels bounced when they hit the pavement. Max was panting.

"I'm getting the hang of this," she said.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, okay, we're doing okay," Max said, about ten minutes after our gravity-defying moment of terror. We really weren't doing okay. But we weren't dead yet. That has to count for something, right? "I mean, it's not as good as flying, but it beats the heck out of walking!"

We didn't say anything.

"What?" she said.

"Could you take it easy on the hairpin turns?" Fang said.

"I'm getting better," Max said. "I just had to practice."

"I didn't know a van could go up on two wheels like that," Nudge said. "For so _long._"

"I don't want to barf in a borrowed car," Gazzy said. Nudge and I scooted away from him.

Max ignored the Gasman. "We need to turn east in about five hundred yards," she said.

We drove for an uneventful half mile, and then Max pulled over. "Where the heck is the _road?_" she yelled, making me jump. "There's no freaking _road_ there!"

"You're going by your own directional senses," Fang said.

"And there can't be roads everywhere you _feel _like there should be a road," I said, trying not to snicker.

Max sighed, pulled back onto the road, and turned around. "I'll just have to take a less efficient route," she said.

We drove for a little while longer. Nudge and Gazzy were playing rock-paper-scissors across me.

"Ha! I win!" whispered Gazzy triumphantly.

"No, it was me! Rock beats scissors!" Nudge argued.

"But you did paper!" Gazzy said.

"No, I –"

"Argh!" Max cried from the front seat. Gazzy and Nudge sat back abruptly in their seats, thinking she was mad at them.

She pulled over, and I heard the distinct sound of something being hit. Hard.

The Gasman, seeming to have realized Max wasn't angry with him, said, "It's okay, Max."

"Is she hitting the steering wheel?" I asked.

"Look," Fang said. "There's a town up ahead. Let's go there, get something to eat, and find an actual map. 'Cause this wandering thing ain't workin'."

Yes. _Food._ Thank you, Fang.

She drove into the town and pulled into a parking lot at some restaurant. The moment Max turned off the engine, Nudge and Gazzy leapt up and raced to the door.

"We're alive!" the Gasman cried.

"_Wait!_" Max said. "Look, we're really close to the School. This might _feel_ like the middle of nowhere, but really, Erasers could be anywhere and any_one._ You know that. So we have to be careful."

The smell of hot food was beginning to make me edgy. _We get it, Max._

"We have to eat," Nudge said.

"I know, Nudge," Max replied gently. "We're going to. I'm just saying be really careful. Be on guard, be ready to run, okay? _Anybody we see could be an Eraser._"

We nodded. I got up and stood behind Nudge, waiting for Gazzy to open the door. Max flipped down the visor. There was the sound of a keyring falling and hitting Max's lap.

There was a pause. "Well, that'll simplify things," Fang said.

I couldn't help it. I cracked up.


	26. Chapter 26

When we walked into the restaurant, the delicious aroma of cooking burgers grew stronger.

"I want my room to smell just like this," I said, breathing in deeply, eyes closed.

"It would be an improvement," Max said.

I'd never been inside a restaurant before. I wished I could read the menu. My stomach was growling like crazy, and I wasn't sure if there was a limit for how much we could order. I followed the rest of the flock as they got in line.

"I don't eat meat anymore," Nudge said. "Not after seeing the hawks go through rabbits and snakes and other birds. It's just icky."

I frowned. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to _not _eat meat. Just the thought of a thick, juicy hamburger made my mouth water.

"Hi, may I help you?" the cashier asked. I realized she was talking to us. Fang stepped up.

"Um, I'd like three double cheeseburgers, a chocolate shake, a soda, three fries, three apple pies." Wow, that sounded good.

"Feeding a crowd?" the cashier asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Fang said, piling on his Fang charm.

"Okay," Max said to Nudge, trying not to sound frustrated. "But you still need lots of protein."

I stepped up to the counter, hoping the cashier wouldn't notice that I was blind. "Um, what he ordered," I said, then stepped to the side to wait for the food.

The cashier sounded a bit weirded out. "Um, that'll be sixty dollars." (_A/N I just made up a price :))_

Max paid for both of us, we got our food, and Fang led me to a booth in the back. I practically ripped open my bad and grabbed the first thing that made contact with my hand. Fries. I shoved about ten of them into my mouth.

Eventually, Max, Nudge, and Gazzy joined us at our booth. They followed our lead, pulling the food out of their bags and stuffing their faces. I heard Max whimper across from me.

I stuffed more fries in my mouth and tried not to make any gross noises through the food.

Suddenly I noticed that Max had stopped eating. Which wasn't a good sign, since she had been starving, and a second ago she had been close to choking on her chicken sandwich. That's when I realized that the chattering and laughing that had been going on around us had disintegrated.

Something wasn't quite right.


	27. Chapter 27

**Wow. It's been I while, hasn't it? I'd like to apologize to my – admittedly, few – readers. Lots of stuff's been happening. :) School, clarinet, llamas. Okay, maybe not llamas... o.O**

**Anywayz... if you could maybe, possibly, take the time to read my FictionPress story, it would mean a whole lot to me. My PenName is InkDrinker. :)**

I felt Fang tap my hand, confirming my fears.

We were surrounded by Erasers.

"Nudge," Max said, so quietly that only we could hear her. "Gazzy. Don't look up. In three seconds, jump over Fang and out that exit door."

We were careful to make it seem like she hadn't said a think. I continued to chew on my fries.

Then, in one sudden movement, Nudge catapulted out of her seat, jumped off the table, and threw the fire door open. The Gasman followed right behind her.

The fire alarm went off, obnoxiously loud, and it rang in my ears. Max sprang out of her seat, Fang jumped up, and I followed, stuffing my last cheeseburger into my jacket pocket.

We leaped into the van, automatically assuming our previous seats. Remembering the Hummer crash, and Max's... erm,_ unsafe _driving habits, I buckled my seatbelt as Max reversed, throwing me forward. I knew the Erasers had followed us outside because Max managed to knock one out of the way as she backed up, crying out in squeamish disgust and changing quickly to Drive. We shot forward, bumping over the curb and through the bushes surrounding the parking lot. The tires screeched over the pavement, almost drowning out the honking of the angry drivers Max had sprang in front of. Almost.

We zigzagged into some other parking lot – I wasn't sure where – and Max turned sharply left, then right, trying to avoid other cars. We came out on the other side of the parking lot and burst back into traffic.

"_Max!_" Nudge shrieked. I braced myself for a collision, but Max swerved just in time, and there was a sickening scrape behind us, as whatever we had narrowly avoided scraped against another car.

Max started weaving through the honking cars. We turned a corner a little too sharply, and the van tilted up on two wheels again, but this time Max got control of the wheel quicker, and we fell back down on four wheels.

"It's so bulky!" Max exclaimed.

"It's a _van_," Fang pointed out through clenched teeth. We continued down the road, the traffic growing thinner, therefore the driving less hazardous, as we went.

The Erasers were still tailing us in their car. I could tell because Max wasn't slowing down. If anything, she was getting faster.

"I'm gonna stop!" Max called to us. "Jump out and get into the air as fast as you can!"

"Okay!" we all replied. I reached for my seatbelt, but Max didn't stop. Instead, she swerved off the side of the road, and we drove right into a corn field. I flinched every time I heard the sound of the heavy cornstalks whacking the windshield. Max swerved left and right, trying to lose them. I realized I couldn't hear the Erasers' engine anymore. I prayed that we had lost them.

We reached the end of the field and careened back onto the bumpy road. Maybe we would actually escape.

Then three things happened at once: our van came in contact with something solid and metal, I hit my head on the seat in front of me before the seatbelt caught me, and all my hopes of escape were extinguished.

**Review pleeeeeeeaaaaase!**


	28. Chapter 28

I grimaced. Every movement caused some sort of pain. My head, having hit both Fang's seat and Nudge's head when we crashed into what I assumed had been the Erasers' vehicle, was throbbing like hell. The seatbelt had cut my neck.

"Report," Max called, not sounding so good herself.

"Okay here," Fang said.

"Okay here," Nudge answered. I heard Max turn around to look at her.

"It's just my nose," Max said quickly, referring to what must have been a broken nose. "Head wounds always bleed a lot. Look, it's already stopping."

"I feel like, like pudding," I said, completely honestly. "Pudding with nerve endings. Pudding in great pain."

"I feel sick," the Gasman said quietly, sounding weak.

Suddenly, all of the windows on the van smashed, and I jumped and covered my face with my arms. I heard a hammering on the glass, then the front doors opened. Immediately, I unbuckled my seatbelt.

Max and Fang were yanked from the van. My heart jolted in my chest. No, we couldn't go back.

"Run!" Max screamed. I was startled out of my shock. The Gasman threw the door open and rocketed into the air, with me following close behind. Erasers snatched at us, but soon we were out of reach.

Nudge had opened the other door at the same time and tried to follow us, but an Eraser was waiting for her. She wasn't fast enough.

The Erasers roared and began shooting at us, but we were already too far away for them to aim correctly.

Below us, I heard Nudge shrieking as they pulled her from the van. My heart hurt. We were the only ones who had escaped.

We continued to fly up until we were out of sight. Then we just hovered there. There was nothing we could do as, below us, they brought in a chopper to take our flock back to the School.

The Gasman tried to go back down, but I held him back. He struggled, but eventually he relented when he realized I wasn't letting go. We were no match for that many Erasers, and if we got caught, then we would have nothing. We'd be back at the placed that held all our worst nightmares, perhaps for good.

I wondered which was better: to be back at the School with our entire flock, all together again, even if we died there – or to be free, and on our own.

With nobody.


	29. Chapter 29

Yet again, we flew. We didn't fly very long. Just until we could find somewhere to land. And then we landed. And all was silent.

It was the kind of silence that was totally deafening, ear-shattering. The kind where you want to say something, but you can't, and anyway, you're almost certain no one would be able to hear you over the silence.

Finally the Gasman spoke up. "We've got to do something." He tried weakly to sound strong, determined, but the most obvious emotion in his voice was hopelessness. Because our situation was utterly and completely hopeless. We were nothing without the rest of the flock. Sure, we could blow up a couple of Erasers, we could crash their Hummer, but what could we do against a group of hundreds of scientists who wanted nothing more than to capture us and mess with us like we were their expensive toys?

But despite it all, I knew that in this utterly and completely hopeless situation, I had to have hope. For Gazzy. For Angel. For Max, Fang, and Nudge. And for myself, too.

"We could --" the Gasman began, but he didn't finish. He had begun to sob.

I don't do the whole gentle and comforting thing. But I tried my best. I awkwardly pulled the Gasman into my lap and put my arms around him. He threw his arms around my neck and sobbed into my shoulder. I let him, trying not to cry myself.

A few minutes later, once his sobs died down into sniffles, I said, "We're not giving up. We're the invincible Gasman and Iggy, remember? We'll think of something."

He nodded into my shoulder. "But what can we do?" he asked.

I thought for a moment. "Well, we definitely can't take them on our own. So we need to find somebody who can help us. Someone willing and able to help two flying kids rescue their four friends from an evil science lab. Someone who wouldn't be totally freaked out by that.

We thought in silence for a few minutes. Who wouldn't be freaked out by that? I couldn't think of one person who we could trust, and was able to help us.

Unless it wasn't a person. The Gasman and I straightened simultaneously.

"The hawks!" we cried in unison.

And so the invincible Gasman and Iggy were off. We flew in the direction that we had originally come from, before we stole the car.

Finally, after a few hours of flying, the Gasman said, "I see one! And another one! We found them!"

"Be careful, Gasser," I warned. "They're dangerous.

"Yeah," he said, to show he heard me. "So how do we get them to help us?"

I hadn't thought about that part. "Uh... Let me try first, I guess," I said. I sped forward nervously, listening carefully for the flaps of the hawks' wings so as not to run into any of them. Soon I was in the center of their group. "Okay, um... guys, dudes, birds... we, um, need your help to come rescue our friends. So, uh, follow me."

The hawks did nothing. They stayed dangerously silent, barely flapping their wings.

"Try moving your wings a certain way," the Gasman suggested.

"Okay," I said. I changed the way I was flapping my wings slightly. That seemed to get their attention. The hawks began screeching anxiously. I changed back to my regular way of flying, and they quieted down.

This time, I moved just the tips of my feathers, creating a ruffling movement down my wings.

"Ig!" the Gasman yelled. "Drop!"

The hawks had suddenly moved forward, fast. I folded my wings and dropped a few yards. They calmed down again. I flew back up.

"I don't know what to do," I admitted.

"Let me try," the Gasman said.

"Okay," I said. "But be careful."

There was a moment's silence. Then the hawks started screeching again, not angrily this time, but in greeting. I was surprised. "What did you do?"

"I was watching the way they moved their feathers, and I figured out how to say that we meant no harm."

"Cool. But we still don't know how to get them to come with us."

"I think we should stay for a while and watch them. I mean, _I'll _watch them, and you'll... well, we'll figure out how to communicate with them," he finished sheepishly. I sighed. Once again, he would get to have all the fun. I nodded, and we started flying around with them. It was quite peaceful, actually. I enjoyed just flying with these beautiful creatures.

I tried my best to listen to the way the hawks flapped their wings. Maybe I could learn something important. I did learn a few things – like how, when they wanted to get each other's attention, they flapped faster. This usually happened when one of them had spotted food.

After a few hours of flying, the Gasman flew back to meet me.

"I think I've got it," the Gasman said. He explained to me what he'd found out and taught me how he thought was the way to communicate, "Follow me, I need your help."

"Cool," I said. "Wanna try?"

"I think you should do it, since you're older, and you're in charge."

"Okay." I flew back into the center of their group, and did what the Gasman had taught me. The hawks began screeching again, and the ones that weren't in flight already began flapping their wings. They knew I wanted them to follow. I flew forward a bit, and they flew after me. Smiling triumphantly, I continued forward, the Gasman at my side, and turned in the direction of the School.

Fang would be so jealous.


	30. Chapter 30

**I am, like, sooo sorry for not updating. I would tell you that I was on vacation from Saturday to Wednesday, but that's a pretty weak excuse, considering it's been, like, forever. And I've had the next three chapters sitting in my notebook for a long time, and I was just too lazy to go to the freaking computer. Yes, I've got problems. :D**

**But... now, I am on an updating frenzy, so expect the next two chapters later today, and...**

**I got an idea for a new fanfic, but I'd like some of your approval before I do it, 'cause it could be a totally awful idea...**

**Summary: After the world has been saved, Jeb puts Fang back in time to the middle of the first book. There, Fang finds out that he plays a much bigger role in the flock's survival than he ever thought.**

**I'm not gonna put this in the summary for the sake of surprise, but the thing that he finds out is that he, the future Fang, is the Voice. Whaddya think? Has anyone ever done that before? I hope not, 'cause I really like the idea. If I write that, I'll also need some ideas for the title. Help me please! Sorry for the long A/N. Onto the actual story!**

It was amazing, leading the hawks. The air was cool and crisp, and I could barely wrap my head around the fact that these fascinating creatures were following _me._

After hours of flying, the Gasman suddenly stopped.

"What?" I asked. "Are we there?"

"Yeah," he replied nervously. "I see four cages... and a bunch of Erasers... and a few whitecoats." My eyes widened. I had lived at the School long enough to know that the whitecoats only brought Erasers and experiments outside at the same time if there was going to be an extermination. Retirement, as they liked to call it, in a vain attempt to make it sound a bit less evil. And ten bucks said I knew who was in those cages.

"Well, let's go then!" I said. We shot forward, the hawks right behind us. Next to me, the Gasman gasped. "Angel! I see her! Max just let her out!" We sped up. By now, most of the people on the ground had spotted us. I could hear gasps and cries of anger coming from the whitecoats, and I was surprised that they hadn't foreseen this little problem.

We landed hard on the ground, and around me, I heard the satisfying screams of the whitecoats and Erasers around me as the hawks dove in and attacked. It was clear who our enemy was, I realized, and so the hawks went straight for them.

The Gasman and I pulled back into the air and watched – and listened, in my case – in satisfaction as the hawks screeched, tearing and ripping at the evil scum that stole our lives away from us.

Once each of them were done mutilating their current victim, the hawks joined us, one by one, in the air, and we led them back in for another attack. By now I was pretty sure the rest of the flock had escaped their cages, and sure enough, below me, I heard Max scream, "Think of this as an occupational hazard, you witch!" I grinned. This probably hadn't been in the job description.

Gazzy and I hovered a few feet in the air, relishing the fact that _we_ had done all this. I felt... proud. And it felt great.

I should save the day more often.

Soon Max joined us in the air, rushing past us to scan the situation below.

"Fang! Iggy! Gazzy!" she called. "Let's go! Go, go, go!"

I almost didn't want to leave the scene of our victory. But we pulled obediently higher into the air. I flew through the crowd of bloodthirsty hawks, moving my wings to tell them that we were done, and thanking them. I wasn't even nervous as I wove through them, the hawks that, moments before, had been causing all the blood that, I was certain, was now pouring onto the ground. I felt... different now. Stronger. And I felt a connection with the hawks. I trusted them, they trusted me. It was an awesome feeling.

The hawks immediately shot upward, screeching, heading back to their home at Lake Mead. I communicated a goodbye, then joined the rest of the flock.

"One, two, three, four, five," Max counted us. I followed the sound of their wings as we continued slowly upward. "Fang! Get Angel!" she called. Two sets of wings, belonging to Fang and the Gasman, left our group, flew downward, then flew back up, supporting the smallest member of our group.

We pulled higher. Suddenly, and familiar voice rang out from below us. My heart nearly stopped. "Max!" I froze; my skin felt like ice. Was that voice who I thought it was? "Maximum!" he called again. There was no mistaking it. I would know that voice in a crowd of a million people.

It was Jeb.

I wanted to cry, to rush to the ground and hug Jeb, the man who saved us, the man who I'd thought was dead. The Gasman seemed the same way. But why did we seem like the only ones?

"Max! _Please!_ This was all a test! Don't you get it? You were _safe_ here! This was only a _test!_ You have to trust me – I'm the only one you _can_ trust! Please! Come back – let me explain!"

Something didn't feel right. I was utterly confused. _What_ was a test? Why did he sound so desperate? And why did I have the urge to do exactly the _opposite_ of what he said?

Max paused. I wondered what was going through her head.

What she said next – or rather, the _way _she said it – totally surprised me. "I don't think so."

As she flew up to join us in the air where we were waiting for her, I wondered what strange dimension I had been sucked into. I had been sure that that man was Jeb, but now I wasn't so sure. Because Max would never speak that coldly to Jeb. Never. She loved Jeb, like a father. She trusted him more than anyone else.

Then it clicked: what felt so terribly wrong, the reason Max had used that awful voice toward Jeb. What was he doing here? The assumption that made the most sense to the logical part of my brain was that he'd been her for a long time. Maybe even for _two years._ And although the illogical part of my brain – the part that, so long ago, wouldn't accept that I was blind – was screaming that it wasn't true, I had to accept the awful truth.

Jeb hadn't died. He'd abandoned us.


	31. Chapter 31

**Okay, so maybe I lied about the updating. I didn't mean to – I really did intend to update later, but then my best friend came over, and we played Cake Mania and watched Jeff Dunham and anime (Elfen Lied). I couldn't find time to steal the computer from her... Then school started up again, and you know how that goes. My teachers decided that, on the first day back, they would give me enough homework to keep me at it until, like, seven. And by then, I was too tired to update. And my parents probably wouldn't have let me get on the computer that late, anyway. Sigh... Whatever. I'm back now, but from now on, I won't make any promises regarding updates. I figure it's better for everyone... :D**

**And about my idea for the other story... I only got two reviews, and only one of them said the story was a good idea. If you could tell me what you think, I'd really appreciate it. I'm pretty sure I'll end up posting it either way, but it would be good to know if people would actually read it. And now for the actual chapter. I've really gotta get these A/Ns under control...**

We flew quietly, not speaking. Angel flew by herself, but sometimes a couple of us had to support her to keep her from falling. The whitecoats' torture had caused her to be too weak to even fly, so they must have been awful to her.

Eventually, we approached the cave that we had been staying at with the hawks. I could hear their wings flapping powerfully. I communicated a quick greeting, then folded my wings and landed after Fang.

Angel sat down on the smooth ground. I heard Max sink down next to her. I slid down against the wall.

"I thought I would never see you again," Angel said quietly, and an unexpected wave of guilt came over me. "They did all kinds of stuff to me, Max. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible."

How could those horrible scientists live with themselves? Just the fact that they could do such horrible things to make a six-year-old girl tremble with fear, and yet still be able to continue what they were doing, sent a shiver down my spine.

"I would _never_ quit trying to get you back," Max said softly. "There's no way I would ever let them keep you. They would have to kill me first."

"They almost did," Angel replied, her small voice quavering. Max hugged her.

Suddenly I was furious. Furious at anyone who had caused our flock to be cut in half so brutally. Furious at Jeb, the whitecoats, the Erasers... and at Max. Max had been the one who thought it was a good idea to leave the Gasman and me behind. Why would it be a good idea to split us further than the Erasers already had? Had Max been expecting for them to be able to just walk back into the house like nothing ever happened, like the Erasers weren't going to be back again?

"This is how it should be forever," I said, after a long pause. "All of us together."

I heard the sound of Fang moving forward. He put his fist on Max's. I walked forward and stacked my left fist on top of Fang's. Nudge put hers on top of mine, then the Gasman, then Angel. We tapped the back of each other's hands, then sat back.

"I'm just... so thankful," Max said, sounding almost embarrassed. "I mean, this made me realized how much we all need one another. I need _all_ of you. I love you all. But five of us, or three of us, or two of us isn't _us._ Us is all six."

I tapped my fingers awkwardly on my leg. I mean, I got her point and all, but as I've said, I'm not so good with the whole emotional thing.

"I love you too, Max!" Nudge said, hugging Max. "I love all of us too."

"Yeah, me too," the Gasman said. "I don't care if we have our house, or a cliff ledge, or a cardboard box. Home is wherever we all are, together." I let the corner of my mouth quirk a little. Max hugged him.

After that, we all pretty much spread out across the small cave. I sat against the wall, listening to the screeching of the hawks outside our cave. Max and Fang were talking quietly at the other end.

I heard the sound of small feet padding up to me.

"Thanks, Iggy," Angel said, hugging me. "The Erasers probably would have killed us if you hadn't brought in the hawks."

"Hey," I said, hugging her back. "Don't mention it. Gasser and I would never let you guys get hurt."

She squeezed me a little, then walked away to talk to Nudge and the Gasman.

Soon after that, we went to sleep, but only a few hours after I drifted off, we were awoken again by the sound of raindrops hitting the cliff ledge outside our cave. We went out and let the rain wash over us. I sat with my feet dangling off the edge of the cliff.

Suddenly, I was overcome with happiness and optimism. We were all together again, we were free, we could go anywhere we wanted. It was raining _in the desert._ Maybe it was a good omen.

"Jeb knows our house," Max said quietly.

"Can't ever go back," Fang replied. "Guess we need a new home."

"Yes," Max said. We all sat in silence for a moment.

"East," Max said confidently. "We'll go east."

**Two things. One: I added the part where Angel thanked Iggy because I noticed in the book that nobody even acknowledged their awesomeness after they saved them. I decided to change that.**

**Two: In this chapter, there is a lot of hugging. You might be wondering how Iggy knew that they were hugging someone. Just thought I'd clear that up by saying he can hear them moving.**

**Review please!**


	32. Chapter 32

**So my New Year's Resolution is to start replying to the reviews I get. I really want to let you guys know how much your support means to me. :) So thank you guys so much for your reviews. Each one I get raises my spirits a billion times higher.**

**If the reviewer submitted the review without logging in, I'm gonna thank them here. So thank you to mebeemmy and MEGGEM. If you _did _log in, I'll reply the normal way. :)**

**So remember that story I was gonna do? Well, now, I'm gonna enter it in the Fang, Fang, FANG! Contest. I'm really looking forward to it. But there's one thing. It's got to be done by April 17. I don't usually end my stories, but since I have to this time, I'm probably going to be dedicating most of my writing time to it. So I might not be able to update this one too often. I might be able to get in a couple updates, but don't expect too much till mid-April. Sorry. :( But maybe you could check out the other story? It's gonna be called Voices from the Future. Thank you to rose angel 428 for giving me the general idea for the title. :)**

**Anyway, I'm giving you this one last chapter. I was gonna write about their IHOP adventure, but I couldn't think of anything to happen, and I didn't want it to be filler-ish. :)**

We fell back asleep in the cave after that, then woke up again in the late morning.

"Max," Nude said, yawning. "I'm hungry."

"Me, too," the Gasman added.

I sat up and stretched, knowing there was no chance of going back to sleep now.

Max yawned. "'Kay," she said. "Let's fly around and see what we can find to eat."

We took off, saying our last goodbyes to the hawks.

It felt good to swoop through the air, feeling nothing holding me up, just the power of my wings.

After a while, Nudge gasped. "IHOP! Oh, can we go, Max, please?"

"Yum, IHOP! Please, Max?" Angel said.

"All right," Max agreed. "Just try not to be too conspicuous."

Our IHOP adventure, much to Max's relief and Gazzy's disappointment, went mostly without incident, although our waitress needed three other waiters to help bring us our food. But hey – at least we ate it all.

So here we were, flying above the clouds. I know I say it all the time, but it really was amazing.

"God!" Nudge said happily, speeding up. "It's just so, so... you know?" Any other time, I would roll my eyes and have no idea what she was talking about. But in this case, I really did know.

"Yeah, I know," Max said.

"I mean, the air, and we're up so high, and no one's after us, and we're all together, and we hit IHOP for breakfast. I mean, God, we're just up here, and it's so cool, and down below, kids are stuck in school, or, like, cleaning their rooms. I used to hate cleaning my room."

Max sighed sadly. I nodded. Why had Max made us clean our rooms, anyway? It wasn't like we were having company or anything. I opened my mouth to voice this, but suddenly I heard the most awful choking noise coming from Max's direction.

"_Max?" _Nudge shrieked. I heard the sudden absence of Max's wings flapping. Why had Max stopped flapping in _midair?_

What the hell was going on?


	33. Chapter 33

**Random question: When you're updating a story, do you edit a document that's already saved on your account and use that, or do you upload a new document altogether? Just a random thing that I suddenly wondered... :) Yes, I'm updating. Be happy.**

Thanks to Shu, zeze, and james patterson lover for the reviews! And sorry about the incredibly short chapter...  
  
Immediately, Fang rushed downward. The sound of his wings descending faded quickly, then emerged again as he flew back up to join us. A weak moan told me that Max was lying in his arms. I had absolutely no idea what was wrong, and for once, everyone else seemed as clueless as I was.

We continued to fly aimlessly for a while. I knew everyone else was casting worried glances down to Max and Fang. I would too, but -- you know.

Finally, Fang spoke. "Man, you weigh a freaking _ton_," he said to Max, who was presumably relatively okay. "What've you been eating, _rocks?_"

"Why, is your head missing some?" Max replied weakly. Fang didn't reply with anything snide, so I knew he'd been really worried.

"Max, are you okay?" Nudge asked, sounding afraid.

"Uh-huh," Max said. I could tell she was lying. "Find a place to land. Please."


	34. Chapter 34

**I had the most cruel dream last night... The Maximum Ride movie had suddenly come out, and my mom bought me and my best friend tickets to see the first showing... and then I woke up. -sob- Guess I'll have to wait for the real one to come out, although I can't get any info since cruddy IMDB only lets you view it if you have Pro... I'm mad.**

**Anywho, I'm updating this even though I really should be working on VFTF. But I'm in the mood for the blind pyro, so here ya go. XD**

Fang immediately obliged. We flew for a couple minutes until Fang spotted a large patch of forest below us. We circled down and landed in a small clearing.

"Can you stand?" Fang asked Max. She must have nodded, because he set her gently down on the ground. She stumbled, then regained her balance.

"Okay," she said. She was trying to sound leaderly, but her voice was still weak. "Let's make camp for the night." She assigned me the job of making the fire and handed me some matches. I set off, gathering sticks that would be good for firewood. Soon Nudge and Gazzy had joined the attempt. Once we had gathered enough and arranged it in the pile, I crouched in front of the wood and waited as Fang cleared away the brush from our wood. When he was done, I began arranging the sticks and twigs so that they would catch easily.

"Yo, watch it!" Max called. "Clear more of that brush away -- we don't want the whole forest to burn down." I sat back patiently as Fang started kicking the rest of the brush out of the way.

"Guess you're feeling like your old self," he grumbled. I didn't say anything -- I'd been more worried about her than I'd care to admit.

Max, Nudge and Angel surrounded the firewood with a circle of stones, then I pulled out the matches, lit one using the dry ground, and held it against the lowest layer of the wood. A couple minutes later, we had a crackling campfire.

We sat around the fire as night began to surround us, and Max pulled out the grocery bag full of food that we'd bought at the store right next to IHOP. We each grabbed a stick and began to roast things over the fire. Things that you normally would not think to cook over an open flame. Consider us inventors.

I grabbed the first thing that came in contact with my hand -- an apple -- and stabbed it onto the end of my stick. I held it over the fire for about a minute, then took a bite of my roasted fruit. Hm. Not that bad.

"This isn't half bad," Gazzy remarked.

"Don't do bananas," Nudge said.

"S'mores," Max said, and I grinned.

"This is nice," the Gasman said, sounding happy. "It's like summer camp."

"Yeah, Camp Bummer," Fang replied. "For wayward mutants." I frowned. I'd never been to summer camp. Probably never would. Just another opportunity the whitecoats had stolen from me.

"It's better than that," Max said. "This is cool." Fang didn't answer.

After I finished my apple, I sat back, one leg stretched out, the other bent and resting on the ground. I propped one wrist on my bent knee, staring straight ahead, at a fire I couldn't see. I wondered what it looked like, then sighed bitterly when I realized I would probably never know.

I lay back and closed my eyes. But before I could fall asleep, I heard Angel's voice. "Max, wake up." I kept my eyes closed, but listened intently.

"I'm awake," Max said, sitting up. Angel got in Max's lap. "What's up, Angel?"

"I've got a secret," Angel said earnestly. "From when I was at the School. It's about us. Where we came from?"

My eyes snapped open.


	35. Chapter 35

**I said before that I would stop making promises about updating... I really should, because even though I said I wouldn't be able to update too often, I seem to be fitting it in. I must have underestimated. Or maybe overestimated... Ah, well. Review please! Please! :)**

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Max asked, trying to disguise the alarm in her voice.

Angel paused, and when she spoke next, her voice was soft. "I heard stuff."

There was a rustling as Max pulled Angel closer.

"Stuff people said or stuff people _thought?_" Max asked.

"Stuff people thought," Angel confirmed wearily. After a pause, she said, presumably in response to Max's thoughts, "No, I want to tell you now. I mean, it's just stuff I sort of heard. I didn't understand all of it – chunks were missing. And it was from a couple different people."

"From Jeb?" Max guessed.

"No," Angel said grimly. "I didn't get anything from him. Nothing. It was like he was dead."

I frowned, my brow furrowing, and I sat up quietly. Max and Angel didn't seem to notice.

"They kept doing tests, you know, and they were all thinking about me, about the flock, like, wondering where you were and if you would try to come get me."

"Which we _did,_" Max added triumphantly.

"Yeah," Angel said. "Anyway, I found out that another place has information about us – like where we came from."

"Whaat?" Max asked. "Like our life span? Or where they got our DNA?"

Angel said nothing. She might have nodded, but I wasn't sure.

"Well, spill it!" I blurted without thinking. Angel continued obediently, as the Gasman, who had been asleep next to me, awoke and sat up, listening to figure out what was going on. Fang and Nudge also sat up.

"They have files on us," she said. "Like, the main files. They're in New York. At a place called the Institute." I raised my eyebrows. How many secret facilities can there be in one country?

"The Institute?" Max asked. "In New York City or upstate New York?"

"I don't know," Angel answered. "I _think_ it was called the Institute. The Living Institute or something." I frowned. Could we _go_ there? I wondered what kind of info they had. Parents? Or had we been made in test tubes?

"There's more," Angel said quietly, her voice trembling. "You know how we always talk about our parents but didn't really know if we were made in test tubes?"

"I saw my name in Jeb's old files," Nudge said. "I really did."

"I know, Nudge," Max said gently. "Listen to Angel for a minute."

"Nudge is right," Angel said quietly. "We did have parents – real parents. We weren't made in test tubes. We were born, like real babies. We were born from human mothers."


	36. Chapter 36

**Ugh. I find it pitiful how often I have to say this, but I'm sorry it's been such a long time since my last update. I won't bore you with excuses.**

**What I _will _bore you with, however, is this: Has anyone else been following the Olympics? I have, and my favorite competitors – not all of them are American – are: Shaun White and Lindsey Jacobellis in snowboarding and Stephane Lambiel and Nobunari Oda in figure skating. This is the first year I've actually gotten excited about the Olympics, so it's weird for me. :) Just thought I'd share that. Tell me in a review your favorite Olympians! Yeah, that was just an excuse to get you to review, but it was a good one, eh? :P**

**Anyway, I know the last chapter kinda sucked, but hopefully this one will be better. And now, without further ado, our feature presentation!**

There was a long, excruciating silence. The six of us sat there, feeling weak from the weight of this news.

"You've sat on this since yesterday?" I exploded. "What's the matter with you? Just because you're the youngest doesn't mean you have to be the dumbest."

"Look, let's all calm down and let Angel talk," Max admonished. Then, to Angel, she said gently, " Can you tell us everything you heard?"

"I only got bits and pieces," Angel said slowly. "I'm sorry, everybody. I've just felt yucky... and it all makes me really, really sad too. I don't wanna cry again. Awhh, I'm crying again." I automatically felt bad for snapping at her.

"It's okay, Angel," Fang reassured her. "We understand. You're safe now, here with us." He was sincere, but I knew he was just as tense as the rest of us.

The Gasman scooted closer to Max, and I brought my knees up and rested my arms on them. Angel continued slowly.

"It sounded like, we came from different places, different hospitals. But they got us after we were born. We _weren't_ test-tube babies."

"How did they get us?" Fang asked. "And how did they get the bird genes into us?"

"I didn't really understand," Angel replied shakily. "It sounded like – like they got the genes into us _before_ we were born somehow. With a test? An amino... ammo..." Her voice faltered as she stumbled over the word.

"Amniocentesis?" Max asked, sounding horrified. I wondered what that meant.

"Yeah," Angel replied, her voice questioning. "That's it. And somehow they got the bird genes into us with it." She paused expectantly, wanting Max to explain.

"It's okay, just keep going," Max urged. I wanted to know what ammino-whatever meant, but I allowed Angel to continue and decided to ask later.

"So we got born, and the doctors gave us to the School. I heard – I heard that they told Nudge's mom and dad that she died. But she hadn't."

Nudge made a weird gulping noise as my eyes widened. "I _did_ have a mom and dad," she breathed. "I _did!"_

"And Iggy's mom – " I stiffened and listened intently to Angel's voice. I always wondered about my parents, like the rest of the flock. Maybe I could find them someday... "Died. She died when he was born." I paled. It couldn't be true – it _wasn't _true. Maybe she misheard or something. After a moment, I slowly lowered my chin onto my arms which rested on my knees. I wanted to curl up and cry, but I knew I wouldn't. I couldn't. I was fourteen years old. The younger kids looked up to me. I couldn't cry.

The silence seemed so long, but I knew it only lasted a couple seconds, and then the Gasman spoke. I heard without listening as he asked hesitantly, "What about us? How could they get both of us, two years apart?"

Angel drew in a shaky breath. "Our parents gave us to the School _themselves,"_ she murmured, and her voice broke. Gazzy paused, speechless.

"What?" he managed eventually, his voice coming out in a squeak.

"They _wanted_ to help the School," Angel said. She was sobbing now. "They _let_ them put bird genes in us. And gave us away for money." I heard the Gasman's small sobs, but my mind was numb. I would never find my mom. She was _dead._ I could _never_ meet her.

"Did you hear anything about me? Or Max?" Fang urged Angel. I could hear curiosity in his voice, and somewhere deep down in his dark words, fear. I knew he almost didn't want to know.

"Your mom thought you died, like Nudge," Angel said. Her voice had calmed and quieted a little, but I could tell she was still on the verge of tears. "She was a teenager. They don't know who your dad was. But they told your mom you died."

There was the sound of a stick snapping, and Fang said nothing. We sat in silence for a moment, then Max cleared her throat.

"What about me?"

"I didn't hear anything about you, Max," Angel said apologetically. "Nothing. I'm real sorry."


	37. Chapter 37

I moved back and sat against a tree, not wanting to talk to anyone. The Gasman kept saying stuff like, "They must be sick jerks," and, "I can't believe they would just give us away." I tried to be sympathetic to him, I really did. I knew this was just as hard for him as it was for me. But I just couldn't. At least he _had_ a mom and dad. At least he could meet them someday. Me, I'd never find them. Angel hadn't said anything about my dad, but he'd probably forgotten all about me. Heck, maybe he and my mom were never married. I had no way to tell, and I never would.

The rest of the flock were sitting around, unsure what to do next. I wanted to go to bed, but there was no way I would be the first to turn in.

Eventually, Max said, "Angel? It's late, sweetie. Why don't you try to get some sleep? Actually, we could all use an early night."

"I'm going to sleep too," Nudge replied. "I just want this day to end." I gratefully moved toward the rest of the flock, and we did the stackie-tappy thing -- I've decided that's what I'm gonna call it from now on -- and I laid down a few feet away from where Nudge was. I closed my eyes, but I knew it would be a while before I would fall asleep. I could hear Max and Fang talking, but it was as if from a distance, and I gave up trying to eavesdrop and settled into my own thoughts.

Suddenly, I was remembering a time back when Jeb hadn't left yet. I remembered it had been about a month since we had moved into the mountain house, and I still had to learn my way around. I was constantly getting lost in the woods and tripping over holes that I could've sworn weren't there moments before. This one time, we had gone flying, and I was doing pretty well until, suddenly, they weren't with me anymore. I was pretty good at hearing their wings flap, but now, there was silence all around me. I could do nothing but spiral downward, and my feet hit the ground hard. I fell down. I could remember the fear I had felt as I wondered if they had really forgotten about me. I was shaking with fear, and suddenly, there was a hand on my shoulder. "Iggy," a voice said. "Iggy, it's me." I relaxed when I realized it was Jeb. "Hey, follow me, we're right by the house." His voice had been so gentle, and I was soon fighting tears as I trailed behind Jeb. I furiously wiped my eyes, hoping Jeb hadn't noticed, but he stopped and turned around. "Ig," he said, "I'm going to tell you something, and you're going to think I'm crazy, but someday, it'll make sense. Sometimes, it's okay to cry."

The memory stopped there, but Jeb's words still rang in my ears, crystal clear. And now, thinking about my parents and everything that was happening lately, I couldn't help but let a few tears slip out. This time, I didn't wipe them away. Because sometimes, it was okay to cry.

**So what'd ya think? I thought at first that it might do better as a oneshot, but the moment just called for it, you know? Also, some people might think this chapter was a little bit OOC, but one of my main reasons for writing this story was to show that there was more to Iggy than everyone saw, so I don't wanna hear anything about that, please! Anyway, review!!! It's not that hard!!!**


	38. Chapter 38

**SQUEEEE! FANG comes out today!!!!! Unfortunately, it has not come in the mail yet, so I am updating my fanfic to somewhat restrain my anticipation... It should come any minute now!! By the way, I totally blanked on the last few chapters, and forgot to mention the awesome people who reviewed my story but didn't sign in. So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to niko, The Discovery Express, and Iggyfanatic! I was grinning like an idiot after I got the one from The Discovery Express, thanks so much! Anyways, onto the story. Review please!**

I was awoken the next morning by a warm, loving shout of, "Yo! Up and at 'em!" and a warm, loving boot digging into my side. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes tiredly. A few seconds later, I heard the _pop-pop_ of popcorn over the fire.

Amazingly, I felt a bit better this morning. I mean, I was still totally bummed about my parents, but somehow, I felt like there was hope. Maybe it was the feel of the hot sun beaming down on us, or maybe it was the birds chirping cheerily, but I felt optimistic.

God, I sound like such a girl right now...

Soon the popping of the popcorn grew incredibly loud, and I scooted a little closer to the fire, my stomach growling.

"We're headed for the Big Apple, guys. The city that never sleeps. I think we're maybe six, seven hours away."

Hm. So Max really did plan on trying to find that Institute thingie. I'd always wanted to go to New York, so this might be fun.

Soon the popcorn was done, and we helped ourselves. Yeah, popcorn for breakfast is weird, but give us a break. We're on the run, for God's sake.

When we were finished eating, we gathered our stuff and got ready to leave. I heard Fang take off, and I followed. The Gasman was right behind me, and the others took off one by one after him.

Suddenly, I heard a _thump _underneath me, and Fang stopped, then shot back to the ground. I followed, with my face set in a worried frown. I landed next to Nudge and Angel, and Gazzy landed behind me. We ran over to the whimpering Max. Fang was speaking softly to her. She didn't reply. Suddenly, she screamed. Nudge clutched my arm.

_Was this it? Was Max going to die? Right here, right now?_

But soon, she moved. She crawled over to the bushes and threw up. Angel winced, and I swallowed hard.

We stood for a few more moments, and then, Angel spoke.

"Max, what is the _matter _with you?"

"Think you should see a doctor?" Fang asked, sounding concerned.

"Oh, yes, _that's_ a good idea," Max said sarcastically, but the effect was lost, since her voice was weak and small. "We need to let _more _people in authority know about us."

"Look," Fang said, his voice hard, but Max interrupted.

"I'm okay now," she said. "Maybe it's a stomach bug or something." None of us bought it. Nudge continued to hold my arm, and the Gasman was trembling. "Let's just go to New York."


	39. Chapter 39

Fang paused for a moment. Then the Gasman took off. I followed him uneasily. I knew Max was just being stubborn, and sometimes her stubbornness was a good thing. But in this case, I had a feeling that she could get hurt. I sighed.

We hovered in the air until the others joined us, then we started flying.

"Are you okay?" Nudge asked Max. I think she nodded, because Nudge started talking again. "I've been thinking about my mom and dad. I bet -- if they've been thinking I died eleven years ago, then I bet they would be pretty happy to see me again, right? I mean, if all this time they wished I had gone home with them and grown up -- then they would be pretty happy to see me, wouldn't they? Unless... I mean -- I guess I'm not what they would be expecting, huh? It's not my fault or anything, but I mean, I've got _wings_. They might not want me if I have wings and am so weird and all. Maybe they just want a normal daughter, and if I'm weird, they wouldn't want me back anyway. What do you think, Max?"

I heaved another sigh. This was difficult stuff we were dealing with. Kids this young shouldn't have to deal with all this, trained or otherwise. I wanted Max to say that our parents would be happy to see us, that they wouldn't care about all that. But it just wasn't that easy. It would be awesome if it played out that way, but parents who had lost a healthy baby years ago might not be too ecstatic when it came back wing-ified.

"I don't know, Nudge," Max said, horribly honest. "It seems like if they're your parents, then they should love you no matter what, even if you're different."

I shook my head, trying to rid my head of this sticky sweet emotion stuff. I deliberately shifted my mind to the subject of bombs, and suddenly, I got an idea. I sped forward a bit, out of earshot of the others, and pulled on the Gasman's pant leg. "Hey. Gasser."

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Remember back in Colorado? The bomb?"

Gazzy laughed at the memory. "Yeah. That was _awesome_."

"Well, listen. I was thinking -- what if we start keeping bombs with us everywhere, like we used to? It won't be too hard to hide them from Max, and it would be epic."

"Like... like a collection?" I nodded. I could imagine the mischievous smile that was forming on his face. "Yeah... yeah, that'd be cool!" I grinned, pleased.

"Awesome."

**So... I wrote that 'cause I always wonder how the heck their bomb collection started. Like, suddenly they have a huge hoard of bombs in their bags, and I didn't get where it came from.**

**Also, I got FANG, but I'm not done with it yet, so no spoilers please! Yeah, I read really slow. But ugh, I hate Angel in this book! She's, like, a devil! Ugh. I wanted Max to slap her so many times... and hard. D: Anyway, review please!  
**


	40. Chapter 40

I could tell from almost twenty miles away that we were getting close to New York. The shouts and honking cars were audible almost ten minutes before we reached it, for me, at least. But it wasn't until we were about seven miles away that Nudge yelled, "Hey! I think I see it! We're almost there!"

She, Gazzy, and Angel were giddy with excitement by the time we stopped directly above the city and hovered there.

"Oh, my God," Max said quietly.

"That's a _lot_ of people," Fang agreed. From up here, I could hear loads of chatter and shouts. I wondered how I would be able to cope, because I relied mostly on my sense of hearing when I wasn't familiar with a place, and the noise below would drown out most echoes and footsteps.

Nudge, of course, loved it. "Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh. I want to go down there! I want to walk on Fifth Avenue! I want to go to museums! Do we have any money left? Can we get something to eat? Can we, like, go shopping?" I almost groaned.

"We have some money," Max replied. "We can get something to eat. But remember, we're here to find the Institute."

Suddenly, I heard a sound below. "What's that sound?" I asked, focusing my hearing on the ground. "_It's music._ Is there music below us? How could we hear it, way up here?" We had pretty good hearing, but we were also really high up, and even I probably wouldn't be able to hear if someone was listening to, like, the radio, in their house.

"I think it must be a concert," Max said. "In the park. An outdoor concert."

I raised my eyebrows. A concert. Another thing to add to "The List of Things Iggy Has Never Done."

"Oh, so cool!" Nudge exclaimed. "Can we go? Please, Max, please? A real concert!"

"Yes," Max agreed reluctantly, and I grinned. "Try to come down right behind a floodlight's beam, so we won't be seen."

I followed closely behind the Gasman, listening for his wing strokes and being careful to land right next to him so nobody would see me, since I couldn't see where the floodlights were. I shook out my legs, which were stiff from the long flight, and folded my wings in tightly to my back, then pulled my windbreaker out of my bag and put it on.

Max led the way to the concert. The crowd was huge, judging by the amount of screams and cheers I could hear from all around me. We stood near the back, and close to the outside so we could make a quick escape if needed, and so we wouldn't get claustrophobic.

I leaned toward Max. "What concert is this?" I shouted over the screaming crowd.

"It's the Taylor Twins," Max answered. I cheered with the rest of the flock. We used to listen to the Taylor Twins before our computer broke.

The rock-ish music was deafening. Even as far back as we were, it was hard to hear anything over the music and the crowd, and I could feel the ground practically shaking underneath me.

The Gasman pulled on my sleeve. "I can't see," he complained.

I resisted the urge to reply "Me neither," and instead said, "Here." I hoisted him onto my shoulders and gripped his knees so he wouldn't fall. "Wait a sec." I fished in my pocket, then pulled out my lighter and handed it to the Gasman. People burned lighters at these things, right? He moved side to side, swaying with the rhythm, and held up the lighter, and I smiled, allowing myself to relax and just enjoy the music. It was one of the few things I could still enjoy, being unable to read or watch TV.

The concert lasted for, I dunno, an hour? It was awesome. The music was great, nobody attacked us, and for a while, we were relatively happy.

But the noise was a problem. I mean, the concert was great and all, but it was incredibly difficult to tell where things were, and when we were leaving, I had trouble telling which way the flock was going, and had to concentrate extra hard to keep from getting lost.

Once the concert had ended, we went back into the clump of trees that we had landed in, before the concert, and flitted up into the thick branches.

"That was awesome," Nudge said. "I can't believe how many people there are, all crowded into one place. I mean, listen.... _There's no silence, ever._ I can hear people and traffic and sirens and dogs barking. I mean, it was always so quiet back at home."

"Too quiet," Gazzy added.

"Well, I hate it," I said bluntly. "When it's quiet, I can tell where the heck things are, people are, where echoes are bouncing off. Here I'm just surrounded with a thick, smothering wall of sound. I want to get out of here."

"Oh, Iggy, no!" Nudge said, almost whining. "This place is so cool. You'll get used to it."

"We're here to find out what we can about the Institute," Max cut in. "I'm sorry, Iggy, but maybe you'll get a little more used to it soon. And Nudge, this isn't a pleasure trip. Our goal is to find the Institute." I rolled my eyes. She didn't give a crap, as usual.

"How are we gonna do that?" Angel asked.

"_I have a plan,_" Max said, which was her way of hiding the fact that she _didn't_ have a plan. I rolled my eyes again. Yeah, and I was the president of Cambodia. As I settled back against the tree and closed my eyes, I wondered if anybody else bought it.


	41. Chapter 41

The next morning, I was awoken by the soft rustling of the leaves in the trees around us and the cheery chirping of a bird in the branches somewhere above me. I had to admit, it was... peaceful.

Until the Gasman farted.

"Ugh!" I said, cupping my hand over my nose. "Geez, Gaz!"

"Sorry," he yawned. I guess he just woke up.

"Yuck!" exclaimed Nudge, who I assumed had already been awake. "You haven't even had anything to eat since, like, yesterday morning!"

Now everyone was awake, yawning and stretching.

"Morning, guys," Max murmured sleepily. "What do you say we walk around a bit, check out the area?"

I nodded, and the others agreed with varying levels of enthusiasm.

"Gosh," Nudge said as we climbed down out of the tree we were in. "There's so many people here. It's only, like, dawn, but there's already people all over the place."

"Look!" Angel cried. "That guy's got a horse!"

I raised an eyebrow. This place was definitely different than any other place I'd ever been to -- which, admittedly, wasn't saying much.

We walked the paths of Central Park for a while, chatting and laughing, while silently checking out the place. I was listening to any sound around me, smelling the air, even occasionally reaching out and touching things, masking it as just leaning on it for a moment. Anything that could give me information about this new, unfamiliar place. I knew the others were glancing around carefully, just like we'd been taught.

The whole time, the park was slowly filling with more and more people, until you could barely walk without nearly running into a bicyclist or jogger. People crowded the streets, and I was having to listen carefully and stay close to the rest of the flock to keep from bumping into people.

"That lady has six white poodles!" Nudge whispered incredulously. "Who needs six white poodles?"

"Maybe she sells them, to kids with big wide eyes," Max said.

Suddenly, an absolutely delicious smell wafted up to me, and I almost stopped dead. "Something smells awesome," I reported. I turned my head, sniffing the air. "What is that? It's over there." I pointed in the direction I was pretty sure the smell was coming from, my stomach rumbling.

"There's a guy selling food," Max answered. "It says honey-roasted peanuts."

"I am so there," I said, mouth watering. "Can I have some money?"

Max and Angel led me over to the guy selling peanuts and Fang, Nudge, and Gazzy went off in some other direction. "Six bags, please," Max said. I had to try not to hurry the guy as he handed Max six bags of peanuts and she paid. I snatched my bag out of her hand, and we started back toward the others. I put a peanut in my mouth and closed my eyes in happiness. They tasted amazing. Angel laughed at me, but she stopped abruptly when Max said, "Iggy, heads up. Get the others." I tucked the bag into my pocket for later and sighed. I should have known this would happen, that they'd come after us. We sped toward Fang, Nudge, and Gazzy. I heard their footsteps come closer and join us, and then we sped up.

I listened intently behind me, and sure enough, I could faintly hear two sets of brisk feet following us closely. I grimaced. The footsteps were getting quicker, speeding up. We would have to --

"Run!" Max ordered. Just what I was thinking. I quickened my pace to a run, focusing my hearing on my surroundings. The two people had been joined by a third, I was pretty sure. I listened all around me, trying to find anything that could help us. I heard a bicycle messenger hurtling toward us, and I grabbed Max's arm and swerved neatly out of his way. Behind us, the footsteps were coming dangerously close. I listened harder, concentrating. In front of us, there were two people laughing about something or other. A little ways to the left, a woman walking her dog. To the right, a woman pushing a baby in a stroller. To the left and diagonal --

"Four of them. Pour it on, guys!" Fang said. I clenched my teeth and ran faster. The noise around me was overpowering. I couldn't think straight, let alone listen for possible escape routes. I shook my head in frustration and concentrated harder.

"_Six_ of them!" Max yelled.

"They're too fast," Fang said. "Maybe we should fly." I knew what that would mean. Blowing our cover, having to leave the city, at least for a little while. A huge risk to take.

Max didn't answer. I continued to listen around me. To our right, a skater. To our left... a crowd of people. I automatically knew what that meant -- possible cover. Could this be our escape? We needed to --

"Eight of them!" Fang shouted.


	42. Chapter 42

**Yay! I'm updating! Clap with me! -clap clap clap- -scowl- Fine. Don't.**

Someone in background: Ahem.

Me: Ohhh! Yeah. Heh-heh. There's someone who I'd like you to meet. Meet... my muse!

Dylan: Uhhh, where am I? Who are you?

Me: Oh, silly silly Dylan. Anyway, yeah. I got a muse. You'd probably think it was Iggy, but so many people already have Iggy, and so far I haven't seen anyone with a Dylan muse, so I figured I'd be the first. Sorry to anyone that doesn't like Dylan, but I personally think he's pretty cool. Minus the Fang-hating part.

Dylan: How did you know I hate Fang? Wait -- I don't hate Fang! Who are you? Where is Max?

Me: Hahahahaha. You're so funny. Fanfic noobie. You'll learn soon.

Dylan: Uhhhhh. Okay?

_"Left!"_ I shouted. We all turned immediately onto a path that led straight into a larger area, and, sure enough, jumbles of people milling around. There was a bigger, more dense crowd to the left of the plaza.

"Merge!" Max ordered, and we slipped into the crowd. I hooked my finger into Fang's belt loop, and, realizing that all the people around me were significantly-shorter-than-me kids, ducked down so the Erasers couldn't see us. We slid smoothly into the middle of the group.

I didn't know what the crowd was for, and frankly, I didn't care. As long as we could escape the Erasers, I was just fine. I knew the kids were pushing forward, so it wasn't a concert or performance or something.

I overheard a voice say, "School day only. No unauthorized adults."

Then a voice, unmistakably an Eraser, said gruffly, "I'm a... chaperone."

"Oh, you're a chaperone? Yeah? Show me your pass."

The Eraser growled and walked away, and I laughed. Suckers.

We continued to walk forward. I heard a man say, "Pass, pass, pass," then the crowd spread out and we moved off to the side. The Gasman slapped me a high five.

"Yes!" he said. "School day only! Yes! I love this place!"

"The zoo!" Nudge exclaimed. Ah. We were at the zoo. A place where innocent animals were kept in cages and pens. Greeeeat. "I've always wanted to see a zoo! I've read about 'em -- I've seen them on TV. This is so great! Thanks, Max." I scowled. What about _me?_ It was my idea to turn left!

"Come on, let's get farther in," I muttered warily. "Put some distance between us and them." I jumped when I heard a huge roar, wishing more than ever that I could see what was going on. "Jeez, was that a lion? Please tell me it's behind bars."

"It's a _zoo,_ Iggy," Nudge said exasperatedly. "_Everything_ is behind bars." She took my arm and started galloping along, dragging me with her.

I decided to just go with the flow, for now.

**Dylan: You still didn't tell me who you are.**

Me: Shuddup. Review!!

Dylan: You are a cruel, cruel person.

Me: Thank you. -throws a papaya at Dylan- Review!  



	43. Chapter 43

**Ugh. I'm sooo sorry I haven't updated in forever. Since it's the end of the year, I've been really busy with school and band and stuff.**

****

Anyway, it might be a little while before I update again, 'cause my friend is borrowing my copy of the first book. Oh, also. Please vote in my poll on my profile. I need to decide which story I'll write once I'm done with the first part of this and Voices from the Future. So please vote! =]

Dylan's not here right now. He sleeps 'til, like, noon, so yeah... Anyway, please review!

Nudge dragged me along, with Gazzy and Angel running behind us and Max and Fang bringing up the rear, walking slower than the rest of us. She pulled me up to about ten animals in a matter of seconds, babbling all the way about how cute the monkeys were or how bad the elephants smelled.

I kind of liked hearing the animals. They were always making some sort of noise; the elephants shuffled as they walked, the lions growled slightly, the giraffes made crunching noises when they ate. I thought they were all really cool.

We continued to walk/run through the zoo. We finally stopped and slowed down a bit near the polar bears.

"Oh, man, look at the polar bear!" the Gasman said excitedly. I ran up next to where he was standing pressed against the glass of the enclosure. "Man. I'd love to have a pool." I nodded dreamily. Then again, a house is necessary for a swimming pool, and we had yet to find another one of _those._

"That would be really cool," Max said stiffly.

It was obvious that Max didn't like this place. She was tense and anxious. I knew all the cages and animals made her nervous. They made me nervous, too. But these animals were cared for, fed, cleaned, kept safe. They had everything they needed right here, and they probably didn't know the difference between here and their natural habitats. So I really couldn't compare myself to this polar bear. The bear was way better off.

Either way, I knew seeing so many cages freaked Max out, no matter what inhabited them.

"Come on, Iggy!" Nudge said, interrupting my thoughts. I followed her to the other side of the enclosure. She had been describing all of the animals to me as we ran along. "There's another bear back there. I think it's sleeping."

I nodded, for once actually listening to her babble.

There was something else I'd noticed, something that really bothered me. Since I'd arrived here in New York -- maybe even before that -- I'd found myself _pretending not to be blind_, trying to hide it.

I'd never really been in a public place for this long, but I'd always considered myself proud of who I was. There was no changing it, so what was the use of pretending to be someone I wasn't? That was why this disturbed me.

My thoughts were interrupted yet again by Angel running up behind me. "Tag!" she shouted, tapping my shoulder. "You're it!" She ran away, laughing, and I turned and chased after her, grinning evilly.

I could hear Max and Fang talking a few yards away. I ignored them, sure they were talking about something that would end up ruining our fun. They seemed to have that effect a lot, especially Max.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Max stopped me in my tracks. "Can we leave?" she asked. "I just -- want to get out of here."

"You look kind of green," the Gasman commented.

"Yeah," she replied. "Can we split before I upchuck in front of all these impressionable kids?"

"Over here," Fang called from behind me. He had found a path that looked like an exit.

I rolled my eyes and followed the rest of the flock out of the zoo.


	44. Chapter 44

After leaving the zoo, we continued to wander through the crowded streets of New York. I was beginning to doubt Max's "plan" more and more, but once we bought some food, I decided this wouldn't be so bad, for a little while.

"You know what I like about New York?" the Gasman said. "It's full of New Yorkers who are freakier than we are."

"So we blend?" I said, taking a lick of ice cream.

"More or less," Max replied. "Of course, that won't help with the Erasers." I rolled my eyes. Max didn't notice.

"Speaking of which, we seem to be dealing with version 6.0," Fang said.

"I was thinking the same thing. This year's crop looks more human," Max continued. "And there are females. Which is a bummer."

"Yeah," Fang said. "We all know how bloodthirsty females are. Dirty fighting and so on." I snickered.

"Can I have a burrito? What's a nish? I can have a burrito, right?" Nudge rambled.

"Ka-nish," Max corrected. "It's like a square of mashed potatoes, fried."

"What's sauerkraut?" Angel asked. I popped the rest of my ice cream cone in my mouth and licked my fingers happily.

"You don't want it. Trust me," Max answered Angel.

She bought six burritos and handed me one. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, smelling the warm burrito. I opened the foil and took a dramatic bite, feeling like a dork but not really caring. Next to me, I heard the Gasman copying me and grinned. Why does food taste so much better when you bought it from a stand on the side of the road?

"I like being able to just buy food as we walk along," Nudge started up her babble again. "If you walk a couple blocks, there's someone selling food. And delis. I love delis! They're everywhere! Everywhere you go, there's everything you need: food, delis, banks, subway shops, buses, cool stores, fruit stands right on the street. This is the best place, I'm telling you. Maybe we should always live here." Sounded fine by me, as far as food was concerned.

"It would certainly be convenient for the Erasers. They wouldn't have to track us down in the middle of nowhere," Max replied. There she went again! Ruining our fun, squashing our dreams. I know she just wanted us to be safe, but - I mean, jeez! She didn't have to be such a worrywart all the time.

"But you're right, Nudge," Max added, maybe feeling a little bit guilty. "I know what you mean."

Suddenly, Max stopped, and I nearly ran into Fang.

"That pain?" he asked softly.

"_Cookies!_" Max answered. My brow furrowed. Had she lost it already?

She spun around, and then I, too, smelled something _amazing_. Freshly baked goodness.

"I must have cookies," Max said firmly, and she and Angel marched into a store to our right.

"Seriously?" I said to Fang. I felt him shrug.

When Max got back, she had a bag of warm cookies. Luckily, she shared them with us, and they were great.

Okay, so sometimes Max isn't so bad.


	45. Chapter 45

"So what's your big plan for finding the Institute?" I asked Max impatiently. I was through waiting - hoping that Max wasn't lying and actually _did _have a plan.

"I'm tired of walking," Nudge complained. "Can we just sit for a minute?" She went and sat down on some stairs. I didn't really want to sit, though. In fact, I felt kind of restless. I wanted to just find the Institute, do what we had to do, and get the heck out of here. The noise was driving me crazy, and although the food was great, I definitely wouldn't be sad to leave New York.

"Uh..." Max said in answer to my question. _Aha. I knew it._ I sighed.

The Gasman and Angel went to sit next to Nudge, and I found a rail next to where they were sitting and leaned on it.

"How about a phone book?" Fang said. "Every once in a while I see one."

"Yeah, that's a possibility," Max said, sounding aggravated. She stayed silent for a moment. I wondered what she was thinking.

"So what are we going to do?" I pressed, fighting the urge to roll my eyes for the fiftieth time today. She still didn't answer. I tried not to groan.

Finally, Max spoke. "We're going to start in here," she said. She clapped twice, making me jump. "I figure they've got computers, databases..." She walked forward.

I muttered to Gazzy, "Where are we?"

"A library," he answered, before following his sister up the steps.

"How does she do that?" Fang said to me. I snickered.

Honestly, as long as it was getting us somewhere, it was fine by me.


	46. Chapter 46

When we got into the library, the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. Like, incredibly quiet.

I followed the rest of the flock's footsteps up to the front desk.

"May I help you?" said the man at the desk. He sounded young and a bit skeptical. I guess it's not every day a group of ragged, dirty children walk into a library.

"Yes," Max answered, suddenly sounding professional and businesslike. "I was hoping to find information about a certain institute that I _think_ is in New York. Unfortunately, I don't know the whole name or where in New York it is. Is there a computer I could use to search? Or some sort of database?"

There was a small pause, in which I wondered vaguely if the guy was gonna kick us out. Then he replied, "Fourth floor," sounding a little put off. "There are computers in a room off the main reading room. They're free, but you have to sign in."

"Thank you so much," Max said sweetly.

I followed the rest of the flock over to the elevators. When it came, I filed in and stood at the very back, my eyes closed. The faster the elevator ride went, the better.

"Well, aren't you the charmer?" Fang muttered, sounding irritated.

"What?" Max said, surprised. I smirked but said nothing, instead resting my head on the back wall of the elevator.

When we got to the fourth floor, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. I hurried out behind Nudge, glad to be free of the small space.

"There are the computers," Fang said. We walked over to them, waited - with varying degrees of patience - for Max to sign in, then went over to one of the computers.

Fang and Max sat in two chairs at a table with a computer, Angel and the Gasman took places on the floor, and Nudge pulled a chair up next to Gazzy. I found a chair and pulled it a little bit away from the others. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do while I was waiting. I mean, we were in a _library._ Books? Not very useful for me. And I doubted that the library had any books in Braille. Not that it mattered, since I couldn't read Braille, anyway.

I ended up just sitting there. It was actually quite interesting, paying attention to everything that went on around me. The library was so quiet that you could hear every whisper, every rustle. After listening for a while, I could pretty much visualize everything that was happening. It was pretty cool.

To my right and forward a bit, a couple of girls - in high school, I think - were working on a project for school. They had to do a report on some guy named Isaac Newton. Turns out he discovered gravity. Useful info.

Behind me were some tables. I think they were for reading, because I could hear the flipping of paper as people turned pages in their books.

To my left was another computer. A few minutes before, a man had been sitting there, but then his wife called and told him to come pick her up from work so they could eat dinner.

And Max. I'm pretty sure the flock was the loudest group in the room, since Max was banging the keys and groaning every few seconds. At one point I think she was just about ready to throw the computer across the room, but Fang managed to get her to calm down and keep looking. Angel was lying on the ground and making up a story about the stuffed animals she had back at the E-house. Nudge and Gazzy were attempting to play hangman, but every once in a while they would start arguing about spelling and such.

All in all, I was pretty calm by the time I heard Max let out a small, despairing breath and Fang saying, "It's almost closing time, anyway."

"Can we sleep here?" I asked. "It's so quiet. I like it in here."

"Uh, I don't think so," Max answered, of course.

I heard footsteps coming toward us. "Let's split," Max said quickly. She grabbed my wrist and pulled me up. I followed their footsteps out of the room, down the stairs, out of the library, and down the outside steps. We finally slowed down once we were down the steps, once Max was sure we weren't being followed.

I kind of hoped we would go back sometime.


	47. Chapter 47

Once we were outside, we slowed down to a walk. I sighed, frustrated. We couldn't go anywhere without everything being ruined. I didn't even know what had _happened_ back there.

"Can we take the subway back to the park?" Nudge asked Max. I had to agree. I was exhausted.

"It's only about eighteen blocks to walk," Max replied doubtfully. Then, obviously taking stock of the situation, she said, "Let's see how much it would cost."

We found the subway entrance, and that's when I remembered that the subway was _underground._ Great. Because being underground was just so much _fun_ for us bird kids.

And the train would be a whole other story.

But it was better than walking to the park, so I followed Fang down the stairs, trying not to get _too _jumpy.

It was pretty late, so there weren't too many people there. So when Max saw that it would be twelve dollars, and that there was nobody to take our money in the fare booth, she just told us to jump over the turnstile, and nobody noticed.

For once, I wasn't complaining about Max's methods. The more money we had for food, the better.

We stood inside for a good ten minutes, waiting for the train. My legs ached, and I contemplated the consequences of just sleeping on the train.

That's when I heard voices. I turned my head slightly, listening harder, and could make out the words, "...hungry... tomorrow... good night."

"What?" Max asked.

"People," I said softly. "In there."

"Workers?" she asked.

"I don't think so."

Max paused. I closed my eyes, knowing what she was thinking. Finally, she said, "Let's go," and jumped off the platform.

I glanced in Fang's direction. He tapped my hand, giving me the okay. I shrugged, sighed in defeat, then followed Max onto the tracks.


	48. Chapter 48

The rest of the flock followed us onto the tracks.

"What does that mean?" said the Gasman.

"It means the third rail has seven hundred volts of direct current running through it. Touch it and you're human popcorn," Fang answered pleasantly.

My eyes widened a bit, and I stepped back to brush my hand carefully against the Gasman so I wouldn't accidentally step on the third rail.

"Okay," Max said. "Good tip. Everyone stay off the third rail."

Suddenly, I felt the ground vibrating dangerously beneath me. I stopped. "Everyone off the rails." What if there wasn't room? Would the train hit us? Would we die right here, in an underground subway tunnel?

I stayed still, afraid to move in case I accidentally stepped in the wrong place. Max grabbed my arm and guided me to the wall. I pressed against the wall and stood perfectly still.

The train rumbled past us, luckily not hitting us, and I had to pull back so I wouldn't be pulled toward the train. The walls and ground shook, and I held my breath until the train had passed us. _If only we had waited a few more minutes,_ I thought, _we might be on a subway going to Central Park._

Once the train was passed, I pulled away from the wall, ignoring the grime that I could feel stuck to the back of my shirt and arms.

"Well, that was fairly nerve-racking," Max said. I laughed, still a bit shaken.

"Who's there?" a man's voice called, sounding gruff and alert.

I kept my hand brushing against Gazzy and let my wings out a little bit, knowing the others were too. If the man was a worker or someone dangerous, we would have to fly back down the tunnel.

"Nobody," Max called back. I rolled my eyes. _Very convincing, Max._

We cautiously turned the curve in the tunnel, and the rest of the flock gasped.

"Whoa," the Gasman muttered.

The voices had grown steadily louder as we traveled down the tunnel, and now, they hit me in one blast. I could hear a big open space, tens, maybe hundreds, of people talking. None of them seemed like workers or Erasers or anything like that.

A man muttered, "Not cops. _Kids._"

"You got food?" a woman said sharply. I heard rustling as Nudge handed her some food. I heard the woman turn around, then wrinkled my nose when I heard her start chewing loudly. It was obvious a lot of these people hadn't had a bite to eat in a while.

"Over there," Hungry Homeless Woman said. Max paused, then led the way a few yards to our left. I put out my hand and felt a concrete ledge, a few feet high. I climbed up after Nudge.

So. A city of homeless people deep in the tunnels of the New York subway. We wouldn't have found it if it weren't for my superhuman hearing, so it was understandable that the police hadn't figured it out yet. Was this illegal? I wasn't sure, and I didn't care to find out. All I really wanted was to curl up and go to bed.

Okay, so a concrete ledge in the bowels of Manhattan's subway system hadn't been exactly what I had in mind. But it would work.

We did the stacky-tappy thing then lay down.

Only problem was, the hard concrete surface wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world, and the hundreds of voices around me weren't helping the situation.

"Psst. Hey. Gasser," I muttered, poking him in the stomach.

"Huh?" the Gasman said.

I fished something out of my pocket. "I saved the aluminum foil from my burrito earlier. Think we could use it?"

"Yeah, cool. I saved mine too."

"Maybe tomorrow we'll find something else useful. Keep your eye out."

"Yes, sir."

I punched him in the arm.


	49. Chapter 49

**Yikes. School has started up again. I've decided to try to get more organized with my fanfiction updating. This "update whenever" thing doesn't seem to be working out too well. So I'm gonna try and update every Monday and Thursday. TRY being the operative word here. But really, I'll do my best to remember. :) Sorry about not updating for awhile. Anyways... Enjoy! :)**

The first thing I heard when I woke up was "...crazier than us. We seem so normal afterward."

Umm...?

"_We?_" Fang replied.

"Wha's up?" I said, sitting up.

Max sighed. "I had another brain attack. This time, I saw a bunch of images, words, stuff like that. Then some freakazoid with a computer showed up. His computer showed the same stuff I saw in my head, and we saw 'The Institute for Higher Living' on the screen. Then I heard a voice in my head say something like 'I've got big plans for you.' Maybe I'm going crazy. But it will lead me to greatness. Like Joan of Arc," she finished casually.

I blinked a couple times, letting this all sink in, then replied, "But controlling other people's computers?"

"I don't see how. But since I have no clue about who or what could be causing it, I guess I can't rule anything out."

"Hmm," Fang murmured. "Do we think it's connected to the School or the Institute?"

"Well, either that or I was born this way. On the off chance I _wasn't, _let's really, really try to find the Institute tomorrow. At least now we know what name to look for."

I bit my lip as I lay back down. A voice in her head? Max's theory about her going crazy didn't seem too far off.

I sighed, then closed my eyes and quickly fell back asleep.


	50. Chapter 50

**Whoo! 50th chapter! I'm actually really surprised I've gotten this far. Not that I didn't plan on it, just... I don't really know what I'm saying. Just be happy!~ Maybe you could review as a 50th chapter present? :o So I've decided to update on Saturdays as well. My plan is, once I've gotten through the first book, I'm gonna take a break for a while and work on my other stories, and once they've gotten a bit further (I just found out the difference between farther and further so I could write this chapter! :D) I'll continue on with the second book. :) Okay, enjoy!**

I woke up the next morning expecting to feel the sun burning holes in my eyelids. Then I remembered where we were, and I sat up, rubbing my eyes. It had quieted down considerably since the previous night. I guessed that we were some of the first to wake up.

"Is it morning?" Angel asked.

"I'm hungry," Nudge complained.

"Okay, we'll get you some chow. Then it's off to find the Institute," Max said. "Oh," she said, a little bit quieter, so only Fang and I could hear her, "don't tell the younger kids what happened last night. We don't want to make them worry." I nodded.

We got up and started working our way back out of the subway tunnels. Once we were on the surface, the first thing I smelled was the delicious aroma of honey-roasted peanuts.

"It's so bright," the Gasman muttered tiredly. "Is that honey-roasted peanuts?"

"Yeah. Want some?"

We all cheered.

After we'd bought some peanuts, we wandered down the street. I knew Max was just buying time so she could think of a plan for finding the Institute. I'd have liked to help her, but I couldn't really think of anything, either. How do you find a top-secret, probably illegal headquarters for DNA experimentation in the middle of New York City? It's not like it'll be listed in a -

"Maybe we should find a phone book. Like Fang said yesterday."

"There's a phone booth up there," Fang said.

We strode forward a couple yards. Max groaned. I assumed there was no phone book. "Hmm..."

I heard the sound of her digging in her pocket, then the jingle of coins.

I could hear the operator on the other end perfectly. "What city?" said an automated woman's voice.

"In New York City, the Institute for Higher Living."

"We're sorry. There is no listing under that name. Please check and try again." I sighed.

"What the he-eck are we supposed to do _now?_" I sensed that Max was coming dangerously close to swearing.

Fang paused. "Peanut?" he offered, holding out the bag of peanuts. She sighed and took a handful.

I snatched the bag from Fang's hand. "Thank you very much."

We continued to stroll farther down the road, eating handfuls of honey-roasted peanuts.

"Smile, you're on _Candid Camera_," Fang said. I felt him point to our left and automatically stooped down, turning my head in the other direction. The others did the same. I guess it was just in our nature to not want anyone in authority to see us. Maybe it had something to do with the government facility that was constantly trying to kidnap us.

After we walked a couple feet hunched down, we stood back up, but immediately Fang stopped short, whispering, "Jeez."

Before I could stop walking, I ran right into Fang, saying, "What? What is it?"

"Is that you? How do they know you?" Gazzy said.

Nobody answered. Instead, without explanation, Max exclaimed, "I don't want to have fun! I want some answers!"

What the _hell_ was going on?


	51. Chapter 51

**Wow. Already the updating thing is a problem for me. Sorry, people. On Thursday I had to stay after school for Open House until like seven, then I was up late doing my homework. The good news is, today you get double chappies! Woo!**

I stared in Max's direction, hoping it would have the effect I wanted. The others remained silent. For almost ten seconds, nobody said anything. Then Nudge asked quietly, "Max, are you okay?"

I could hear her hair swishing in the air as she nodded. "I think we should get on the Madison Avenue bus." _What?_ Not only did we all hate confined spaces like buses, but where in the world had this come from? I wondered, completely seriously, if Max was actually going crazy, just like she'd said last night. What would we do if she completely lost it?

"Why?" Fang said suspiciously.

She must have mouthed something to him, because he then answered, quietly so we couldn't hear, even though I could, "But Max, what if this is all a trap?"

"I don't know!" Max said, speaking at a normal volume again. "But maybe we should do what it says for a while - to see." She abruptly started to walk away.

"Do what _what_ says?" said the Gasman, sounding bewildered. We stayed where we were while Max continued to walk off.

"Max has been hearing a voice, inside her. We don't know what it is," Fang said. The "keeping it from the others" thing hadn't worked out for long. I'd thought it would last at least a little longer than that.

"Like her conscience?" Nudge asked. "Do the TVs have anything to do with it?" The TVs? I was beginning to get annoyed with nobody telling me what was going on.

"We don't know," Fang said. He almost sounded a little worried for Max's sanity, too. "Right now it wants us to get on the Madison Avenue bus, apparently."

Ah. So that was why she'd wanted to get on the bus. I couldn't help but feel a little bit comforted. I didn't know why, but something told me that her Voice was someone/thing that we could trust. Maybe Max wasn't going crazy after all.

We walked the fourteen blocks to the Madison Avenue bus stop. I wondered why the Voice wanted us to get on here, but I hoped it was a good reason; we couldn't afford to keep wasting time, or money, for that matter.

When the bus came, we got on.

It was worse than I'd expected. The bus was jammed full of people. There were no seats, and we had to stand in the middle of the aisle. People pressed against us, and the smell - it was unbearable. I had to keep from gagging the moment we climbed on. It was loud, confined, and pretty much bird kid hell. _The Voice better have a damn good reason for making us get on here_, I thought bitterly. And where were we even going? Did Max just plan on staying on until she heard the bus driver say, "Any bird kids on this bus that are on a mission to find their parents and discover their pasts should get off here"?

Every so often, the bus driver would stop, say the name of a street over the intercom-thingie, and people would jostle and bump into us, getting on and off the bus. I scowled.

After about ten stops, the driver said, "Okay, people. Fifty-eighth street! This is where the fun is!" Then Max was pushing us out the back door of the bus. When the bus drove away, we coughed and choked on the exhaust.

"What-" Max began, then stopped. I could hear kids laughing and loud music playing from a store across the street.

A toy store?


	52. Chapter 52

We walked without a word across the street and into the huge store. The music, some kid's song that I vaguely recognized, was deafening. I grimaced.

I wondered why in the world the Voice had sent us here. Maybe the Institute was hidden in the basement of this toy store. It didn't seem too far-fetched, what with the whole "experiment on kids" motive of the operation. Cruel and disturbing, yeah, but not necessarily out of the question.

We descended farther into the store, the little kids too amazed for words. They'd probably never seen this many toys in one place.

"Iggy, there's a _whole room_ of Lego and Bionicle," Gazzy said in awe. I raised my eyebrows. I used to play with those back in Colorado. You didn't have to see to build stuff with them, so it was obviously pretty appealing to a blind kid.

"Go with them," Max said. "And let's keep an eye out for each other, okay?"

Gazzy grabbed my arm and we ran to the Lego section. There was a table in the middle of the room with a box of display Legos where you could build whatever you wanted. As I grabbed a couple of smooth blocks and started stacking them together with skill that I'd retained from my years of practice, I wondered if the Voice really _had_ just sent us here for some well-needed relaxation. But I doubted it. We had a mission, and this must be getting us closer, although I wasn't sure how.

But of course, barely ten minutes passed before our fun was, once again, ruined.


	53. Chapter 53

_"Fang!" _came Max's shriek from the next room over. Fang spun around then tapped my hand. I stood, reluctantly setting down the Legos I was holding, and followed him and Gazzy to where Max was.

"Let's get out of here," Max said. "A Ouija board just told me to save the world."

"Gosh, you're like, famous," the Gasman said, sounding anything but freaked out.

"That's not necessarily a good thing," I muttered. Everywhere we went, someone or some_thing_ mysteriously knew about Max and her mission. **(AN: Max did tell Iggy and Gazzy about her mission, but I didn't mention it in the story. Mostly because I forgot... I mean, nooo! I've got it all under control. ;))**

"Where's Angel?" Fang said. Max paused, then whirled around and ran in the other direction. I closed my eyes and listened for her high-pitched voice. I could hear her near where Max was. We followed her until the other could see her and I could hear her clearly.

"...this bear. I _really_ want it, but my... sister won't buy it for me. Can you _please _buy me it? It's only forty-nine dollars..." Her voice was oozing sadness and dejection.

"What's she up..." Fang said slowly.

I could hear an old woman's voice answer. She sounded confused. "Umm. Well, I guess I could spare a few dollars. I'll buy it for you, young lady."

"Someone's buying something for Angel," I reported, narrowing my eyes.

I heard the woman's high heels click slowly away; we followed her and Angel, who was bouncing excitedly behind her, up to the counter.

The woman paid for the bear and I heard her hand it to Angel. "Thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou sooo much!"

"You're welcome, dear," the woman said before shuffling away. There was something strange, almost robotic about the lady's voice.

We went up to Angel suspiciously. "What was that about?" Max asked accusingly. "Why did that woman buy you that bear? That thing cost _forty-nine dollars!"_

"What did you say to her? No one's buying _us_ stuff," I said, thinking wistfully back to the boxes of Legos stacked on the shelves. I know if _I _went up to a woman and said, "Can you buy this for me? I want it reeeeally bad," she would just give me a weird look - or so I assume - and walk off. I know Angel's cute, but cute enough to convince someone to buy a forty-nine dollar toy for her?

"Nothing," Angel replied innocently. "I just asked that lady if she would buy me this bear, 'cause I really, really wanted it and I didn't have enough money." I scowled.

We left the store and stood on the sidewalk, feeling the sun already beating down on us.

"So you just asked a stranger to buy you an expensive toy, and she did?" Max said slowly. None of this made any sense.

"Yeah. I just asked her to buy it for me. You know, _with my mind._"


	54. Chapter 54

Okay. _What?_ This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. It was kinda like one of those "all just a dream" scenarios. Like, I half expected to suddenly wake up back in the subway tunnel or, better yet, my bed back in the house in Colorado. For some reason, even though it was wishful thinking, it comforted me a little.

"Um, what do you mean, exactly?" said Max, sounding just as stunned as I felt.

"I just asked her, in my mind. And she said okay. And she bought it for me. I'm going to call it Celeste." I blinked. She seemed so nonchalant about it, like it was all normal to her. A sudden thought scared me a little. What if it _was?_ What if she'd been doing this all our lives, playing with all our minds, and we hadn't even known? This was one little girl who had entirely too much power.

"Angel, are you saying that you influenced that woman so she would buy you the bear?" Max said.

"Celeste," Angel corrected stubbornly. "What's _influenced?_"

"To have an effect on something or someone," Max explained. "It sounds like you sort of _made_ that woman buy you the bear -"

"Celeste." I rolled my eyes.

"_Celeste, _whether she wanted to or not. Do you see what I'm saying?"

"Well, I _really_ wanted Celeste. More than anything in the whole wide world," Angel said. _Ah, so that's how it was. In that case, it's fine._ I wondered if Angel really thought that was the right thing to do, if she really didn't know she'd done anything wrong. So the kid had been raised in a dog crate, but it wasn't like Jeb hadn't taught us right from wrong.

Okay, so I maybe, sort of, secretly wanted to give Angel a high five, but I wouldn't say that out loud.

Max didn't reply. We kept walking, and when I was sure Max wasn't looking, I patted her head. "That's my girl." She giggled.

Max bought us falafel for lunch. I tucked the foil it was wrapped in into my pocket. We hadn't taken anything besides foil so far, but I figured with a couple more, fairly easy to find things, we would have enough to make a bomb. We'd made bombs from less.

Suddenly, Max muttered, "I'm too old for toys." I raised an eyebrow.

"Did you want a toy?" said the Gasman, sounding a bit weirded out. I heard her hair swish as she shook her head no. Jeez, Max was just getting closer and closer to the loony bin, wasn't she?


	55. Chapter 55

We kept walking. I could tell the others were getting just as worried for Max's sanity as I was. It's not like she can just blurt out random stuff every five seconds and not expect us to start worrying. She knew this, too - maybe she was wondering about it as much as we were.

Not five minutes passed before it happened once again. "We're surrounded."

I heard Fang look around quickly. But there had been no one there, because he just kept walking.

"We're wasting time," Max finally said in anger. "We need to find the Institute. Discover our histories and destinies. We don't need to go to toy stores. We've got to get serious about this." For once, I had to agree. We'd barely gotten anything done since we'd gotten here. I didn't know how much longer I could stay in noisy, dirty, crowded New York.

Unfortunately, Max's moment of wisdom was broken as she began muttering, "Of course I'm not relaxing! We need to find the Institute! We're running out of money! We're constantly in danger!" I knew she had to be talking to her Voice, but I was more worried about the fact that she had to say it _out loud._

We stopped and stared at her. "What's wrong, Max?" the Gasman asked softly. Our flock wouldn't last long if we lost our fearless leader to madness.

She took a long, deep breath, and then spoke calmly. "I feel like I'm about to explode. Three days ago, Angel said she'd heard there was more info about us in a place called the Institute, in New York. _More info._ This could be what we've always wanted to know."

"'Cause we might find out about our parents?" I said gently. I'd learned over years of living with Max that you had to treat these moments with caution, or she'd pretty much explode in your face.

"Yes," she replied. "But now we're here, and really weird things are happening, and I'm not sure-"

"_Hello, kids!"_ Oh, crap. I heard two sets of large feet jump out in front of us - Erasers. Without hesitation, we all set off at a run down the sidewalk. The Erasers couldn't be far behind us - I could hear their footfalls maybe a yard back. I kept my finger hooked in Fang's belt loop; the New York streets weren't meant to be run down in broad daylight, there were too many people.

_"Cross!"_ Max yelled. We followed her into the road, running straight between two cars. Several angry drivers honked at us as we crossed the crowded street, but we paid them no attention. Once we reached the opposite sidewalk, we turned and kept running, still having to dodge the people that dotted the sidewalk.

I heard a cry from behind me. "Bicycle messenger took an Eraser out!" Fang reported, sounding amused. Max gave a chuckle, which seemed out of place, considering we were running for our lives.

And then Angel screamed. And all hell went loose.

**I have a question for you guys. Do you think this story is too serious? I've been trying to make Iggy seem funnier in his thoughts, but it's kind of hard with so much bad stuff going on. Do you think it's funny enough, or should I put more effort into making Iggy more... Iggy-ish? What do you think? Tell me in a review please! Bye!**


	56. Chapter 56

**Sorry I couldn't update yesterday. I got grounded from the computer. :/ I'm still not sure if I'm allowed to be on the computer, but I stayed home sick today and my mom didn't say I _couldn't_, so... yeah. Anyway.**

**Argh. This story is beginning to get very frustrating. Not that I don't like writing it; on the contrary, I love writing this story. But JP almost always forgets about Iggy, and it's difficult to fill in the blanks. When something happens that is mostly visual, Iggy is left in the dark and no one bothers to explain to him, so he's pretty far behind everyone else, yet JP just forgets and goes along like he already knows. I'm sorry, I know I'm ranting, but it frustrates me when writers leave out stuff in their books and make mistakes like that. Okay. Sorry. I'm done now. :)** **Onto the chapter. Enjoy! :D**  
**  
**I didn't know what had just happened. All I knew was, Angel was screaming, Fang had suddenly surged forward like he had a jetpack on his back, and Max - where was Max? That's when I put the pieces together, and my eyes widened. I could hear her now - screaming and yelling and cursing at the top of her lungs.

An Eraser had gotten her.

_Oh my God, not this again. Do we ever get a break?_

I couldn't do anything. All I could do was try to keep up with Nudge, who was close to tears, and Gazzy, who was holding on to little Angel's hand and trying to get her to keep up. I knew by the footfalls I could hear ahead of me that Fang was streaming forward, far ahead of of everyone else. I felt almost reassured - Fang would never let _anyone_ get ahold of Max.

I could hear gasps and cries ahead, from passersby who could see the unnatural scene: a teenage girl being carried, kicking and screaming, along the New York street, in broad daylight, by a freaky wolf man. I wasn't surprised when I heard the murmur, "Is this a movie?" It must've seemed like it jumped straight out of a horror flick. Only thing missing? The cameras. Unless you count the Candid Camera we'd hid from earlier.

I could hear Max, reduced to screaming Fang's name and swearing at the Eraser; she didn't seem to be getting anywhere by kicking and punching it. Angel was still screaming and crying. It was pure chaos.

All of a sudden, there was a loud _thud_ and it all stopped. Angel stopped screaming, Max stopped yelling, but we didn't stop running. Fang caught up to Max, and I could hear them talking, but I couldn't tell what they were saying.

We all ran up, and I heard Max say, "Then he went down like a ton of bricks." I raised an eyebrow. So the Eraser had just randomly died, right then and there?

Angel jumped into Max's arms, still crying, and Max whispered to her, comforting her. I could hear a siren, and now it pulled up next to the sidewalk.

"Crazy drug addict!" Fang yelled. Then we turned and walked quickly down the sidewalk, trying to get away from the cops and crowd. Wow, this day just kept getting better and better, didn't it?

The weird transitions were giving me a headache. First we were in a toy store, then we were walking normally, and then we were attacked, and now suddenly Max was fine and we were walking like normal again. All in a day's work, I guess.

I knew we were heading toward Central Park, I could tell by the direction we were heading. I was glad; I didn't really feel like spending another night in that subway tunnel. No offense to the weirdos who lived there, of course.

"So he was five years old," Fang said.

"Made in November, year 2000, number seven of a batch. They're not lasting too long, are they?" Max said. Now it clicked. So he'd reached his expiration date. The thought scared me a little. When would _we _reach our expiration dates? Did we even have them? If that Eraser had just died, right there, right in the middle of an escape, that meant our dates could come any minute. I decided not to worry about it. It wasn't like I could do anything about it, right?

Max suddenly stopped. She didn't say anything. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Then she leaned down and picked something up. Nobody said anything. I wondered if Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel had any idea what was going on, either.

"I can use it if I can figure out the password," she said without explanation.

Fang seemed to know what she meant, because he replied, "Okay."

I was getting really sick of being left in the dark. **(A/N: That makes two of us, Ig.)**

"Let's just get into the park," Max said. "Nice, safe Central Park."


	57. Chapter 57

We finally reached the park. The sad thing was, after spending a night in a dirty, smelly subway tunnel, I was actually relieved to be sleeping in a tree. Still, I couldn't help but think wistfully of my warm, comfortable bed in our house back in Colorado.

"How can the Voice know where I am and what I can see?" Max asked.

"It's inside you," Fang replied casually. "It's wherever you are. If it's tapped into any of your senses, it knows where you are and what you're doing." Um, _creepy?_

"Even in the bathroom?" the Gasman asked incredulously. I cracked up.

"So we need to figure out the password," Max said slowly.

"Okay, what is she talking about?" I whispered to Gazzy, irritated.

"Oh," he said. "She found a bank card with her name on it."

I guess it never really occurred to the rest of the flock that I couldn't see what was going on all the time. I _was_ pretty good a figuring it out sometimes, so maybe they just forgot. I decided to try to be a bit more understanding, even though it was incredibly frustrating.

I had become accustomed to the sound of Fang and Max stacking their fists, so I stacked mine on top of theirs. The others put their hands on top of mine, and we all tapped.

I fell asleep quickly, glad for the fresh air surrounding me, compared to last night.

**So... One reviewer suggested that I use Angel to explain things to Iggy when it gets frustrating. It does make sense, but I did some research and saw that it isn't until later in the books that Angel discovers she can talk to people in their minds. Right now she can only read and control minds. So I just decided that when he gets incredibly frustrated, he'll just cave and ask another flock member, usually Gazzy, since they're the closest. Anyway, I hoped you liked this chapter, even though it was short, and sorry it's late!**


	58. Chapter 58

**Argh. I'm really sorry it's taken this long to update. My life has been extremely hectic lately, I'm so sorry. So normally, I would give you double chapters to make up for it, but I really don't have time tonight, so I'll give you a chapter tomorrow. That okay? Good. Again, I'm sorry.**

Why is it that my sleep is always so rudely interrupted? The first thing I heard when I awoke in the morning was, _"It is unlawful to climb trees in Central Park." _I heaved a huge sigh. Police. I wasn't really worried, just annoyed, mostly. Actually, I was already wondering how long it would be before I could have something to eat. I was starving.

"How did they even know we were up here?" Gazzy said, sounding just as irritated as I was. "Who looks up into a tree?" I scowled in agreement.

"It is unlawful to climb trees in Central Park," the woman repeated in her obnoxious voice, speaking into her obnoxiously loud megaphone, obnoxiously early in the morning. I seriously considered yelling back, "Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first time." But I figured that wouldn't bode well with Max.

"Please come down at once." Seriously, whose bright idea was it to make a law making it illegal to _climb trees?_ It's not like it's some federal crime or something.

Max gave a groan. "Okay, guys," she said tiredly. "Get down; try to look _normal._ When we're on the ground, we'll make a run for it. If we get separated, connect up at, like, Fifty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue. _Comprende?_" I nodded.

I followed Fang clumsily down the tree - I was used to just _flying_ up. The others followed, yawning.

"There are signs posted everywhere clearly stating that climbing trees is forbidden." I wondered wryly if being blind put me off the hook. I followed Max's lead and began to slowly, slowly back up.

"Are you runaways?" the other cop asked. _Sort of?_ "We'll take you somewhere. You can make phone calls, call your folks."

I heard another car pull up to the curb next to the other. What the hell? Why did they need backup for _kids climbing trees_? Did they seriously have nothing better to do?

I heard the beep of a walkie-talkie and Max muttered, "Now!" I took off running in the opposite direction, right on Fang's heels. We would've made a clean getaway, except -

"Celeste!" Angel screamed. I heard her footsteps stopped and groaned. We kept running, hoping Max would get her.

_"No!"_ Max shouted at Angel. I heard swift footsteps and then a shrieking Angel was thrown into Fang's arms. She continued screaming for her bear, but we all ignored her. It wasn't really likely that we were gonna go back to the cops just to get her bear.

"I'll get you another one!" Max said to calm her down. _Yeah, like you got her the first one?_

"I don't want another one!" Angel said, sobbing.

"Have we lost 'em?" Gazzy asked.

"No!" Max said. We sped up even more. I wondered if we were fast enough to outrun cars. I doubted it, even though we were pretty fast.

I still wasn't worried. What could the cops do, really? We'd been through worse stuff than being tased or whatever they planned on doing to us. So I soon became bored, and my mind ended up straying back to my breakfast.


	59. Chapter 59

We continued to run aimlessly, trying to hide ourselves in the crowds that were filling the streets. I ran with my hand reaching out to touch Max's arm - there were too many people out here, and I was afraid I would get caught up in the crowds and separated from the others.

"Inside a store?" Fang asked. "Then out through a back exit?"

Max paused, then said, "Yeah, maybe so. Let's turn east on Fifty-first."

We kept running; honestly, I was getting tired of all this running. Not just today, but ever since we'd been in New York. Hell, since Angel had been kidnapped, pretty much all we'd done was run. I was itching for some ass-kicking - we shouldn't have to run from everything.

"What's _that?_" Nudge asked. We all stopped, giving us a moment to catch our breaths.

"Is it a museum?" Gazzy said. I ignored the fact that I, yet again, didn't know what was going on, trying to make myself remember that it would probably explain itself in a minute.

"No," Max answered. "It's Saint Patrick's Cathedral. It's a church." See?

"A church!" Nudge squealed, as usual, overly excited by just about anything. _Oh, my gosh, a brick wall!_ "I've never been in one. Can we go?"

"Sanctuary," Fang muttered. He was right. The cops wouldn't expect us to run into a _church_, would they? This could be our opportunity to escape them.

_And then we can get something to eat._


	60. Chapter 60

We strode tentatively into the church. There were a lot of other people in there, but it was still really quiet, respectful. It smelled really nice in there, too. They were probably burning incense, but there was more than that. It just smelled _fresh._

"Let's go. Up there," Max murmured. We walked slowly toward the front of the church. I knew the others were staring around, transfixed by the surely beautiful church. But for once I didn't feel like I was missing anything. I felt the most calm and peaceful I had in a long time. It was amazing how just walking into a building could change an entire atmosphere. Somehow, I knew the cops wouldn't find us in here.

"This place is awesome," whispered Gazzy.

"What are those people doing?" Angel asked.

"I think they're praying," Max answered.

"Let's pray too."

I blinked and Max replied with a cautious, "Uh-" but Angel had made up her mind. She slid down a pew and I heard the _thunk_ as she lowered the kneeler. I followed Gazzy in behind Max, and when he kneeled, I brushed my fingers over him to find the right position. Then I copied him, laying my knees on the kneeler, clasping my hands awkwardly and looking down. I wasn't sure if I should close my eyes, or if it really mattered, but decided to do it anyway out of respect.

"What are we praying for?" I asked Max.

"Um - anything you want?" she said slowly. She didn't seem too sure, either.

"We're praying to God, right?" said Nudge.

"I think that's the general idea," Max said. I bit my lip. You probably wouldn't guess by my sensitive and emotional external shell - ha-ha, yeah right - but I'd never been much of a religious person. But I decided that it was worth a shot, anyway. Somehow, it felt right.

I thought for a moment. What did I want more than anything in the whole world? The answer was obvious, of course. So I closed my eyes and did something I'd never even imagined myself doing.

I began to pray. "I want to be able to see stuff," I murmured. "Like I used to, when I was little. And I want to be able to totally kick Jeb's butt," I added for good measure. Then I finished awkwardly, "Thank you." I wasn't really sure how to end it, but politeness is always good, right? I heard the others muttering their prayers - except Fang, no surprise there - but decided it would be sort of intruding into their privacy to listen in. So I tuned them out, keeping my eyes closed, allowing myself to relax. Something I didn't get to do that often.

I hoped we wouldn't have to leave soon. I liked this place.

**All right, so... I'm not what you would call the most religious person in the world. But I still like this chapter because I always thought that churches were really peaceful places, and I've always liked this chapter in the book, too. So tell me what you thought? If you would, I'd like you to look at my profile if you have the time. I posted something about my rules for reviewers, and I'd like it if you read it. Not that you have to or anything, I just thought it was kind of useful. :) So... bye!**


	61. Chapter 61

**All right, has fanfiction been acting up for anyone else? I've been having trouble accessing it, and that's why it's taken me so long to update. I'll give you two chapters today to make up for it, as usual. If I can get the site to work... Oh, and sorry that this chapter kind of sucks. To be fair, I don't have much to work with here. Just a bunch of dialogue most of the chapter.**

We stayed sitting there for a while longer, and then Max began, "Should we -" She paused in a pained silence. We stayed quiet for a moment while she drew sharp, painful breaths. Another brain attack?

Finally, her breathing slowed, and Fang asked, "Can you walk?" I heard her hair swish as she nodded.

We reluctantly left the church and walked away until we were a couple yards away from the crowd of people outside it, then stopped. I hoped the cops had given up trying to find us. Either way, we couldn't stay here much longer. They'd remember our faces.

"I saw Thirty-first Street, in my head. And a bunch of numbers," Max said.

"Which means..." I said slowly.

"I don't know," she answered. "Maybe the Institute is on Thirty-first Street?"

"That would be nice," Fang said wryly. "East or west?"

"I don't know," Max said sheepishly.

"Did you see anything else?" he asked.

"Well, a bunch of numbers. And a tall, kind of greenish building."

"We should just walk all the way down Thirty-first Street. The whole way, looking for that building. Right?" It sounded like a plan to me. It was better than just sitting there, at least. And going into _toy stores._ "I mean, if that's the building you saw, maybe it was for a good reason. Or did you see a whole lot of buildings, or a whole city, or what?"

"Just that building."


	62. Chapter 62

We made our way to Thirty-First Street and started walking down it. I knew the others were looking at every building to compare it to Max's description of the building she'd seen in her head. I'd have liked to help, but as it was, I felt kind of useless at the moment. I occupied myself with listening in on the conversations of the people around me - yeah, it's rude, but it's one of the perks of being a blind mutant.

Just as I was listening to two women with heavy New York accents brag about all the useless things they'd bought their poodles, Gazzy spoke. "So do we have money? I hope?" My stomach growled as we passed a vendor selling sausage.

"Maybe," Max said. "What do you think? Should we try this?" I knew she was talking about the bank card.

"Well, we need money, for sure," Fang answered thoughtfully. "But it might be a trap, a way for them to track where we are and what you're doing."

"Yeah," was all she said. After a moment's hesitation, she sidestepped over to the side of the road. I heard the sound of plastic against plastic and then beeping as she tried a password in an ATM. She tried another. Then another. I sighed, wondering how long _this_ would go on. The ATM would only take three tries, so we kept walking.

"What about, like, the first initial of all of our names?" Gazzy theorized.

"Maybe it's something like 'givememoney,'" Nudge said.

"It has to be shorter than that," Max said, amused.

We swerved over to another ATM. Max tried three different passwords, none of which worked. We tried two more ATMs, which, you guessed it, didn't work. Finally, at the next one, Max muttered, "I don't know what do to." I considered telling her to say that again, a little louder - I had to savor the moment - but something told me that wouldn't go over too well.

"Why don't you try 'mother'?" Angel asked solemnly.

"Why do you think that?" Max asked. I heard her shrug. She seemed to be really down about the whole Celeste thing.

Max tried the password, and then there was a pleasant beeping sound as the ATM let her in. I raised my eyebrows. Where had that come from?

"How did you know that?" Fang asked as we kept walking.

I heard her shrug again and she murmured, "It just came to me."

"In a voice?" Max asked suspiciously.

She shook her head - I think by now I can stop saying that I heard her hair swish. "The word was just in my head. I don't know why."

This kid was beginning to creep me out a little.


	63. Chapter 63

**Okay, people. I've decided that the whole updating-on-a-set-day thing isn't exactly working out. Heh-heh... So. From now on, it will be a GOAL rather than a GUARANTEE. As in, I'll try to still update on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but if not, I'll still end up posting that chapter at some point. So basically you'll still get the same number of chapters, but it might be a few days later than normal. Okay? :D It's better than me spending a whole A/N apologizing every other chapter, so yeah. Oh, and... this is by no means a promise, but I might, might, MIGHT start updating four days a week. I'm not exactly sure, but I'd like to hurry up and finish the first installment of this story because I have several other ideas that I need to start posting or the pot in my head will boil over and I'll go insane. So yeah. I might. At the rate we're going now, I'll be done by mid-December, but being the impatient person I am I don't think I can wait that long. XD So anyway, here's your chapter! I'll post another one soon after this. :)**

So here's what I knew: Each step we took, every building we passed, brought us ever closer to what could be our most amazing dream or our worst nightmare. The rest I really wasn't so clear on. I knew even less than the rest of the flock did, which was saying a lot. Because on top of not knowing who our parents would be, where they were, whether they wanted us or _anything_, I would never even know what they looked like, if we found them. I wouldn't be able to see our house, and even right now, I didn't even know what each of these buildings looked like. So each time the flock stopped and glanced at Max for confirmation, I just had to take their word for it.

Another thing I didn't know? Probably the rest of the flock was thinking this as well, but I didn't know. I wasn't sure if I even _wanted _to know any of this stuff. I mean, all I'd ever known were these five people around me. Did I want anything else? I didn't know anything about them. Angel had said that my mom had died when I was born but my dad was still alive, but what if she was wrong? What if they were a completely normal family who had given me up just because they didn't want me? And what if - and this was even worse - what if they _did _want me? What if I would have to leave the rest of the flock behind just so I could live with my parents? Would I be able to survive without the rest of the flock, my only eyes in this world? All of these questions, and almost no answers.

But I finally came to a conclusion: I _should_ want to know. It didn't matter whether or not I wanted to, I had to know. Even if I would never meet them, the curiosity and questions would eat me apart until I did know. All of these kids around me, laughing and playing, had been raised by their parents. Somewhere, I had two parents, and would I ever forgive myself if I didn't find out about them?

I was almost glad when Nudge started talking; this emotional stuff was beginning to get to me. "I wonder what the Institute is like. I guess it's like the School. Will we have to break in? How do they hide the Erasers from all the normal people? What kind of files on us do you think they have? Like actual parent names, you think?"

"For God's sake, Nudge, my ears are bleeding!" I cut in. She shut up. I felt kind of bad; I didn't mean to snap or anything. But things were tense enough without her babbling on and on. The time for compassion had come and gone, in my opinion. Right now, I felt I had the right to worry about myself.

"I know you're worried," Max said gently. "I am too." Then, suddenly, she stopped walking.

"Is this it?" I asked, feeling the tension in the air.

"Yep," Max answered, trying to sound casual, but I heard the nervousness in her voice. "Are we ready?"

"Aye, Captain!" I said, saluting her. She just walked away. I grinned.

I followed the others up a set of steps. I didn't expect the revolving door, but Fang pulled me in at the last second, muttering, "Smooth one." I scowled.

Inside the building, it felt all corporate and businesslike. Not very mad-scientist-y though. I heard the clack-clack of a person typing on a computer. A receptionist, I guessed.

"Here," Fang said. The others all gathered around the wall - I assumed there was some sort of sign there. After a minute, Max made a sound of frustration and took a deep breath.

"Excuse me," Max said, using the same voice she'd used to the guy at the library. "Are there any other companies in this building that aren't on the board?"

"No," the receptionist replied shortly. After a minute, she resumed typing. I rolled my eyes. New Yorkers were so rude. Suddenly, the woman gasped and stopped typing.

I heard Nudge whisper, "There's a pot of gold beneath every rainbow," as if she was reading something. **(AN: Haha, I figured out a solution for this one! :D)**

"Does this building have a basement?" Max asked.

"Who are you?" the receptionist asked. "What do you want?" She hadn't actually _answered_ the question, which made me think she might be hiding something. But before Max could say anything else, heavy footsteps in the corner alerted me to a security guard who had been standing there.

"Never mind," Max said quickly. I was ushered out the door, and Max shoved something in the door so the guard couldn't get through.

When we got down the steps again, for about the fiftieth time in the past week, we started running.


	64. Chapter 64

**Oh, how I've awaited the coming chapters. The next four chapters are probably my all-time favorite in this book. :D**

I was getting _so_ tired of this. Everywhere we went, _someone_ chased us. It was almost like we couldn't make a normal exit anymore.

But apparently, I wasn't the only one who was frustrated.

"This sucks!" the Gasman yelled suddenly. I heard his fist meet metal. "Nothing ever goes right! We get hassled everywhere! Max's head is busted, Angel lost Celeste, we're all hungry - I hate this! I hate everything!"

And here it came. Max giving Gazzy a little pep talk, telling him to just keep going, and all in all, just making him feel worse. So when we all crowded around her, I was surprised when she hugged him and said, "I'm sorry, Gazzy. You're right. This has really sucked. I know it's hard sometimes. Listen, what would make you feel better right now?" I raised my eyebrows. For the first time, Max was acting all _soft._ It scared and refreshed me at the same time.

The Gasman sniffled, and I realized he'd been crying. I was a little alarmed, because when the Gasman gave up, you _know_ it's bad.

"Really?" his voice was quiet and sad, and I remembered how young he was. It was hard for an eight-year-old to have gone through so much at such a young age.

"Really."

"Well, I just want - I just want to, like, sit down somewhere and eat a lot of food. Not just get food while we're walking. I want to _sit down_ and _rest_ and _eat."_

Max hesitated, then said, "I think that can be arranged."


	65. Chapter 65

So Max, true to her word, set us off on some big adventure to find a restaurant that the Gasman deemed suitable. I didn't pretend I wasn't happy to be finding somewhere to sit and eat as much as the rest of the flock. Not only would it be a nice change from buying food as we were walking around pursuing Max's self-assigned mission of finding the Institute, but I was starving. We'd barely eaten anything all day.

When we found the little diner tucked into a street corner, I was happy with that. But when Max talked to the waitress, we found out there was a half-hour wait. I honestly wouldn't have minded waiting that long, but the others weren't so patient. So we kept walking.

I should have known when I heard the loud buzz from a quarter mile away that that was the restaurant Gazzy would want to go to. It was right up his alley, with the loud laughing and crowds of people.

Sure enough, as soon as we got close enough, the Gasman almost squealed with excitement, "This looks _great!_" I didn't complain, even though I knew this wasn't a good idea. Beggars can't be choosers, right?

"Uh, okay," Max said, obviously feeling the same uneasiness I was.

The moment we stepped inside, Nudge muttered breathlessly, "Whoa."

The snobby atmosphere in the restaurant was almost material. I knew even without being able to see that everyone would be giving us judgmental glances. _Six kids alone at a restaurant? What is the world coming to?_

I had to admit, though, the thought of hot food pretty much balanced it out. The smell of tomato sauce wafted from the kitchen, and I automatically craved spaghetti.

"May I help you?" a woman asked uncertainly. "Are you waiting for your parents?"

"No. There's just us," Max answered sweetly. "Can we have a table for six, please? I'm treating everybody with my birthday money."

When the waiter answered, "Um, okay," I smirked. Adults were so easy to lie to, seriously.

The hostess led us off to the right of the reception area and sat us at a circular table. I sat down in between Gazzy and Fang. The woman set something - a menu - in front of me. I rolled my eyes but decided to just order spaghetti like I thought earlier.

"Jason will be your server today," the hostess announced before stalking away.

"Max, this is so, so great," Nudge said, sounding, as usual, excited just to be living. Then again, that was a significant accomplishment for us. "This is the nicest place we've ever eaten!"

I tried my best to look inconspicuous, but it wasn't really up to me because Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy were all jumping up and down in their seats and looking wildly around. I slid down a bit in my chair. This wasn't exactly my cup of tea.

"Are you waiting for your parents?" a man with a high, uptight voice asked. I'd heard him walking up, but his obnoxious voice still made me jump, since he was standing so close to me I could smell his overload of cologne.

"No, there's just us," Max answered smoothly.

I could almost hear the frown in his voice as he replied, "Ah. Are you ready to order?"

"Anyone know what they want?" Max asked us.

"How many chicken tenders are on a plate?" the Gasman asked.

"I believe there are four."

"I better have two orders, then," he said, sounding as if he was calculating a complicated equation. "And this fruit cocktail. And two glasses of milk."

"Two orders for yourself?" Jason asked slowly.

"With fries," the Gasman replied. "To start."

"I want a hot-fudge sundae," decided Angel.

"Real food first," said Max. "You need fuel."

"Okay," Angel replied, but I knew she was making a mental note to order a sundae later. She paused. "We're not spoiled rich brats. We're just hungry." I pretended to cough to stifle my laughter. "I want this prime rib thing," Angel said. "And all this stuff that goes with it. And a soda. And lemonade."

"The prime rib is sixteen ounces," Jason said, almost incredulously. "It's a _pound_ of meat."

"She can handle it," Max said. I heard the edge in her voice, daring our waiter to argue. "She's a big eater. Nudge? What do you want?"

"This lasagna primavera," said Nudge. "I might need two. It comes with a salad, right? And bread? Some milk. Okay?" This last question was directed at Max for confirmation.

"Two lasagnas?" Jason asked painedly.

"You might want to start writing this down," was all Max said. I had to keep from banging my head on the table. I should have seen this coming from a mile away, shouldn't I? Figuratively, I mean.

"I'll start with the shrimp cocktail," Max began. "Then the maple-glazed roast pork loin, with the cabbage and potatoes and everything. The house salad with bleu cheese dressing. And a lemonade and an iced tea."

This time, Jason said nothing. I wondered if he'd finally decided to just go with it.

"The lobster bisque," said Fang. "Then the prime rib. A big bottle of water."

Sensing it was my turn, I said quickly, "The spaghetti and meatballs."

"That's on the children's menu," Jason said stiffly. "For our patrons twelve and under."

I narrowed my eyes. They really didn't have _spaghetti_ for adults? I was about to reply with a scathing, "What, I don't look twelve to you?" when Max cut in quickly, "How about the rack of lamb? IT comes with potatoes and spinach, and a merlot-rosemary sauce."

I scowled but replied, "Fine, okay. Plus a couple glasses of milk and some bread."

There was a pause and then my new best friend Jason said, "This is a great deal of food for just the six of you. Maybe you've overordered."

"I understand your concern," Max said, her patience obviously running thin. "But it's okay. Just bring it, please."

"You'll have to pay for all of it, whether you eat it or not."

"Yeah, that's _usually_ how a restaurant works," Max replied.

"This is really going to add up." I shook my head slightly. He should've just stopped at, "This is a great deal of food." Now Max was really gonna kill him.

"I _get _it. I _get_ the concept. Food costs _money._ _Lots _of food costs _lots_ of money. Just bring us what we ordered. Please."

Jason finally backed off and strode haughtily away.

"I love this place," Fang said drily.

"Did we order too much?" Angel asked innocently.

"No. It's fine. I guess they're not used to hearty eaters."

When a woman came to place bread on our table, I glared daggers at where I thought her feet were. She scurried off.

And because, of course, nothing can _ever_ go right for us, the next time someone came to our table, it wasn't to bring more food.

**So, what I was gonna do was, since I missed all last week because I was incredibly busy, just update double on every day I usually do, but my parents are about to push me out of the chair at the computer, so I really have to go. I guess I'll just update this again tomorrow, okay? Sorry... Anyway, I hope you liked it. :)**


	66. Chapter 66

**Jeez. Okay. So you guys are probably all incredibly frustrated with me at this point. For which I honestly can't blame you. I'm probably the least responsible person you'll ever meet. So, as much as it pains me to do this, I think I'm going to have to go back to updating whenever I can rather than having a set number of updates per week. I just can't handle it... So, sorry. I hope nobody gets annoyed with me. Or anything like that. So anyway, here's your next chapter... :P**

"Good afternoon," came a smooth voice to my right.

"Hello," Max replied slowly.

"I am the manager. Is there something I can help you with?" The Manager. I decided the name sounded somewhat like a villain's name from a superhero comic. It seemed fitting enough.

"Well, I don't think so," said Max calmly. "Unless the kitchen is out of something we ordered."

"Yes, well," The Manager replied in an attempt to be as polite as possible. "You seem to have ordered an unusual quantity of food. We wouldn't want to be wasteful with it, or present you with a shocking bill because your eyes were bigger than your stomachs." I tried not to scowl. Obviously this guy didn't deal with kids much. He gave a laugh that sounded more like a pig's snort.

"Well, that is just so sweet of you. But we're pretty hungry. It seems like we should just order and get what we ordered, you know?" Max replied.

"Perhaps you would be happier in some other restaurant," The Manager said. "Broadway is nearby." In fact, that diner from before seemed like heaven compared to this crap.

"No freaking _duh_," said Max, her patience finally snapping. "But we're _in _this one and we're _hungry_. Now, I have the money, we brought our appetites with us; are you going to give us what we ordered or not?"

"_Not_, I believe," The Manager said angrily. A few seconds later I heard a phone being dialed in the kitchen. Were they seriously gonna call the cops on us?

"This is stupid," I said. "Let's just split. Gasser, we'll go someplace that isn't run by Nazis, okay?" Seriously, shouldn't they be happy if anything? What did it matter how much we ordered? Didn't it just mean more money for them?

"Okay," said Gazzy softly. I felt bad; the kid just wanted _one_ thing and these jerkwads had to ruin _even_ that. It was just proof that we really couldn't get a break.

"Jason thinks you're full of hot air and that you smell like a sissy," said Angel sweetly to our favorite comic book villain. "And what's a _himbo?"_

Jason made a sound of discomfort. I didn't even try to stifle my laughter this time.

"Fine," Max said. "We're going. The food's probably lousy here, anyway." Her chair screeched as it was pushed across the floor. I stood too.

And then the doors to the restaurant slammed open. The sound of cops had become all too familiar by now. I wondered if they would recognize us. Or maybe they'd already known we were here. They could've just been tracking us all this time and finally gotten here.

It didn't really matter; we weren't hanging around much longer anyway.


	67. Last AN: I'm really sorry, guys

**Well. It's been a very, VERY long time. I'd be surprised if anyone still follows this story... If you do, however, I freaking commend you, cuz I haven't been back in, what, two years? So, if you thought this was an update, I'm really really sorry. ;_; But I just really don't think I'm gonna be able to complete this story. Looking back on it, it's just really really bad, and I'm not really a part of the Maximum Ride fandom anymore. I've tried a few times to pick it back up again and it was just a lost cause. So yeah. I'm going to keep it up for posterity, cuz it still gets a few hundred hits a month, and I might make someone happy with it, with the part I've already completed. And you know, if there happens to be anyone who wants to see this story finished and would like to do it themselves, I'll happily hand it off to you, who can probably do a better job with it than I did. Just review or PM me, and I'll see what I can do. (Although nobody will probably want to, I figure it's worth a shot.) So yeah. I'm sorry, to anyone who was still holding out hope that I would finish this. ;_;**

**Fly on! :)**


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